Bahrain stunned Australia 1-0 after a late Harry Souttar own goal in a dramatic opening to Asia’s third round of World Cup qualifying on Thursday. There were no problems, however, for World Cup regulars Japan as Hajime Moriyasu’s side handed China a 7-0 thrashing at Saitama Stadium and six-times qualifiers Iran secured a 1-0 win over visitors Kyrgyzstan.The Bahrainis celebrated wildly after the final whistle at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast having beaten Australia for the first time in seven attempts, making the perfect start to their bid to qualify for the finals for the first time. The Socceroos were already down to 10 men in the Group C contest after the dismissal of Kusini Yengi and Abdullah al-Khalasi’s cross took a wicked deflection off Souttar to wrongfoot goalkeeper Mat Ryan and give Bahrain the points.Japan, who are also in Group C alongside Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, had no such problems against an inept Chinese side that collapsed to an embarrassing loss.Wataru Endo gave the hosts the lead with a 12th-minute header and Kaoru Mitoma doubled the advantage when he nodded in Ritsu Doan’s cross in the dying moments of the half.Takumi Minamino scored twice in six minutes soon after the interval to put the result beyond doubt, but Moriyasu’s side refused to ease off against the already well-beaten Chinese. Substitute Junya Ito hit the fifth with a shot that was deflected past Wang Dalei by Jiang Guangtai before Daizen Maeda headed home the sixth with three minutes remaining. Takefusa Kubo put the seal on the win with the last kick of the game, slamming his shot into the roof of the Chinese goal.Brighton winger Mitoma, who has missed a chunk of this year with injury, was making his first appearance for Japan since the Asian Cup in January.“The home support was overwhelming and that allowed us to play well from the first whistle,” Mitoma said.South Korea were unable to find a way past Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Group B in the first game under Hong Myung-bo after the former defender returned to coach the team in July.The Koreans trail Iraq in the early standings as Aymen Hussein’s header earned his side a 1-0 win over Oman in Basra.In Group A, the UAE fought back to defeat Qatar 3-1. Iran defeated Kyrgyzstan thanks to Mehdi Taremi’s 34th minute goal while Uzbekistan also claimed three points when Jaliloddin Marsharipov’s strike handed North Korea a 1-0 loss in Tashkent.The top two from each of the three groups progresses directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.