The United Arab Emirates struck late goals through Marcus Meloni and Caio Lucas to earn a 2-1 win over Oman in Doha on Saturday as Cosmin Olaroiu's side battled back to keep their hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup alive.
Caio Lucas hit the fortuitous winner seven minutes from time after Meloni scored with a 76th minute header to cancel out an own goal by Kouame Kouadio that gave Oman a 12th minute lead.
The win moves the UAE to the cusp of their first appearance at the World Cup since 1990 with Olaroiu's team only needing a draw away to Qatar on Tuesday to progress as winners of Group A in the fourth phase of Asia's preliminaries.
The Omanis threatened in the early exchanges when Issam Al-Sabhi stole possession inside the UAE half only for the attack to fizzle out when his shot was eventually blocked. But it was not long before Carlos Queiroz's side had taken the lead.
Ali Al-Busaidi's cross from the left flew across the area to the feet of Amjad Al-Harthi whose shot took a deflection off Kouadio's heel to beat goalkeeper Khalid Eissa low to his left.
Harib Abdalla's introduction at the start of the second half injected much-needed urgency into the UAE attack, the forward twice calling keeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini into action.
With 14 minutes remaining the UAE deservedly pulled level, Meloni rising highest to meet substitute Ali Saleh's inswinging cross from the left to beat Al-Mukhaini.
Seven minutes later Caio Lucas scored the winner, sending in a cross from the left that swung towards goal, bouncing on the turf inside the six-yard box and skipping beyond the keeper to earn UAE all three points.
The loss ends Oman's hopes of automatic qualification but the Gulf state could still advance to another round of playoffs if the UAE defeat the Qataris by a large enough margin.
Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan have already taken six of Asia's eight guaranteed spots at next year's 48-team World Cup.
Iraq's Iqbal earns 1-0 win over Indonesia in World Cup qualifier
Iraq sealed a 1-0 victory over Indonesia in Jeddah on Saturday to maintain their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 1986 as Zidane Iqbal's second-half strike eliminated Patrick Kluivert's side from Asia's qualifiers for next year's finals.
Former Manchester United midfielder Iqbal, who currently plays his club football for Utrecht, netted with 14 minutes remaining after coming off the bench at the start of the second half for Graham Arnold's team.
The result means Iraq will face Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with the winners of the tie qualifying for the World Cup while the runners-up advance to another round of preliminaries. Indonesia, meanwhile, have been eliminated after two losses.
"We knew it would be a tough game with the temperature and everything but this 1-0 victory will give us a lot of confidence," said Iqbal. "It will be a tough game against Saudi Arabia but hopefully we will win."
The Southeast Asians had looked the more likely to pick up the victory needed to keep their own World Cup dream alive.
Kevin Diks glanced his early header wide of the Iraq goal and Thom Haye was narrowly off target with a strike from distance soon after as the Indonesians made a bright start.
Mauro Zijlstra was denied his first international goal by a last-ditch tackle by Manaf Younis, the Iraq defender snuffing out the opportunity at close range as the 20-year-old forward latched onto Haye's pass into the six-yard box.
Sherko Karim's header that flew over the bar in the 29th minute was as close as Iraq came to troubling Indonesia goalkeeper Maarten Paes with Kluivert's side controlling the opening 45 minutes without reward.
A mistake by Rizky Ridho was to cost the Indonesians, however, as the defender gifted Iraq possession and the ball eventually ended up at the feet of Iqbal, who slotted a perfect finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Tempers flared as the final whistle approached, with Indonesia captain Jay Idzes acting as peacemaker when his side's fans pelted the pitch with water bottles in disgust at a disputed decision by referee Ma Ning from China.
Zaid Tahseen was sent off for a second bookable offence nine minutes into stoppage time but Iraq held on to maintain their hopes of joining Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan as Asia's representatives at next year's finals.
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