# 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

The AFC third round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was decided by a random draw which was conducted in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. The round began on 6 February 2008 and finished on 22 June 2008.
The top two countries in each group at the end of the stage progressed to the fourth round, where the ten remaining teams will be divided into two groups of five.

## Format

The 20 teams (five teams given a bye directly to the third round, 11 highest-ranked winners from the first round, and four winners from the second round) were divided into four pots for the draw, each containing five teams. The pots were drawn as follows:
| Pot A | Pot B | Pot C | Pot D |
| Australia  South Korea  Iran  Japan  Saudi Arabia | Bahrain  Uzbekistan  Kuwait  North Korea  China | Jordan  Iraq  Lebanon  Oman  United Arab Emirates | Qatar  Syria  Thailand  Turkmenistan  Singapore |
The 20 teams were split into five groups of four teams each, with all teams playing home and away against each of the other three teams in the group.
The top two teams in each group qualified for the fourth round.

## Group 1

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| Australia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 10 | Fourth round | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Qatar | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 10 | Fourth round | 1–3 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Iraq | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 7 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 |
| China | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 6 | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — |

## Group 2

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| Japan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 13 | Fourth round | — | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 |
| Bahrain | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 11 | Fourth round | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Oman | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 8 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 |
| Thailand | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 1 | | 0–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | — |

## Group 3

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| South Korea | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | Fourth round | — | 0–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| North Korea | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 12 | Fourth round | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Jordan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 |
| Turkmenistan | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 12 | −11 | 1 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | — |

## Group 4

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| Uzbekistan | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 15 | Fourth round | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Saudi Arabia | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 | +10 | 15 | Fourth round | 4–0 | — | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| Singapore | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 16 | −9 | 6 | | 3–7 | 0–3 | — | 2–0 |
| Lebanon | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 14 | −11 | 0 | | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | — |
* 1 2 The positions of Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia are reversed from the original final standings after two matches were forfeited by Singapore.
* 1 2 Awarded as a 3–0 win as Singapore fielded an ineligible player.

## Group 5

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | |
| Iran | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 12 | Fourth round | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| United Arab Emirates | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 8 | Fourth round | 0–1 | — | 1–3 | 2–0 |
| Syria | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 8 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 |
| Kuwait | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 4 | | 2–2 | 2–3 | 4–2 | — |

## Goalscorers

There were 137 goals scored in 60 matches, for an average of 2.28 goals per match.
6 goals
* Ahmad Ajab
4 goals
* Hassan Abdel Fattah
* Ismail Matar
* Server Djeparov
3 goals
* Yuji Nakazawa
* Hong Yong-jo
* Yasser Al-Qahtani
* Malek Mouath
* Redha Tukar
* Kim Do-heon
* Jehad Al-Hussain
* Odil Ahmedov
2 goals
* Brett Emerton
* Harry Kewell
* A'ala Hubail
* Salman Isa
* Gholamreza Rezaei
* Emad Mohammed
* Yasuhito Endō
* Yoshito Ōkubo
* Ismail Sulaiman Al Ajmi
* Amad Al Hosni
* Fábio César Montezine
* Abdoh Otaif
* Aleksandar Đurić
* John Wilkinson
* Park Chu-young
* Park Ji-sung
* Seol Ki-hyeon
* Firas Al-Khatib
* Teeratep Winothai
* Timur Kapadze
* Maksim Shatskikh
1 goal
* Mark Bresciano
* Tim Cahill
* Joshua Kennedy
* Faouzi Aaish
* Ismail Abdullatif
* Sayed Mohamed Adnan
* Sun Xiang
* Zheng Zhi
* Zhou Haibin
* Jalal Hosseini
* Mohsen Khalili
* Javad Nekounam
* Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht
* Ferydoon Zandi
* Nashat Akram
* Hawar Mulla Mohammed
* Seiichiro Maki
* Kengo Nakamura
* Shunsuke Nakamura
* Marcus Tulio Tanaka
* Atsuto Uchida
* Waseem Al-Bzour
* Thaer Bawab
* Fahad Al-Rashidi
* Mahmoud El Ali
* Mohammed Ghaddar
* Choe Kum-chol
* Ahmed Mubarak Al Mahaijri
* Sayed Ali Bechir
* Khalfan Ibrahim
* Sebastián Soria
* Ahmed Al-Fraidi
* Saad Al-Harthi
* Osama Hawsawi
* Mustafic Fahrudin
* Fazrul Nawaz
* Kwak Tae-hwi
* Zyad Chaabo
* Sanharib Malki
* Sarayoot Chaikamdee
* Totchtawan Sripan
* Datsakorn Thonglao
* Guvanch Ovekov
* Saif Mohammed Al Bishr
* Mohamed Al Shehhi
* Faisal Khalil
* Vitaliy Denisov
* Alexander Geynrikh
* Aziz Ibrahimov
* Victor Karpenko
1 own goal
* Ramez Dayoub (against Singapore)
* Baihakki Khaizan (against Lebanon)
* Anas Al Khouja (against Kuwait)