Saudi Arabia qualify for World Cup

Saudi Arabia reached their third consecutive World Cup finals when they beat Thailand 4-1 in Riyadh and Iran were upset 3-1 in Bahrain on Sunday.

While Saudi fans celebrated their victory, angry Iranians rioted on the streets of Tehran after they let automatic qualification slip from their grasp.

The Saudis, the 22nd team to go through, finished top of Asian zone final round group A to qualify for the tournament in Japan and South Korea, two points ahead of the Iranians.

Iran, who played in the last tournament in France in 1998, were one point ahead of Saudi Arabia going into Sunday's deciding group A games.

Having finished second in their group, Iran must now play off over two legs against group B runners-up United Arab Emirates and the winners will go through to a playoff against the Republic of Ireland for a berth in the finals.

The UAE made sure of second place in group B when they came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Oman on Friday.

Group B winners China secured a place in their first finals two weeks ago.

Saudi Arabia opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Abdullah al-Shaihan opened the scoring on a through ball from Abdul Ghani.

They doubled the lead just after half-time after Abdullah al-Jamaan headed home a cross from Ahmed al-Dokhi.

Boliban pulled a goal back for the Thais in the 54th minute, but Sami al-Jaber restored the two-goal advantage from the penalty spot in the 67th minute.

Midfielder Ibrahim al-Harbi rounded off the scoring in the 72nd minute.

After the match thousands of Saudi fans poured onto the streets of Riyadh to celebrate.

Bahrain entered Sunday's game with nothing to lose and had also never beaten Iran before.

However, goals from Abdullah al-Marzouqi and Ali Hussain gave the home side a 2-0 advantage at half-time.

Ali Daei scored from close range in the 83rd minute for Iran shortly after Bahrain's Abdul Rahman had been sent off for time wasting.

In a bad-tempered final few minutes, Iran had two players sent off and coach Miroslav Blazevic was ordered from the dug-out by the referee.

Mohammed Hussain scored Bahrain's third goal in injury time, leaving Iran to contemplate two playoffs in order to reach the finals.

TEHRAN RIOTS

In Tehran, hundreds of Iranian youths clashed with police and volunteer basij militia in the early hours of Monday morning after defeat in Bahrain, witnesses said.

They said many of the youths gathered in two squares in southwest Tehran, smashing windows of state banks and government buildings.

A group of about 50 basij militia men, wielding large sticks, later moved along the main street between the two squares sending the last protesters running up nearby alleys, while street cleaners were sweeping up debris.

Youths had also gathered in a street in north Tehran, where there were some small clashes between police and the soccer fans.

Witnesses said fans were angered because of rumours that the national team might have been under pressure to throw the game to prevent a repeat of the euphoric clashes which occurred 10 days ago when Iran beat Iraq and the Iranian team looked set to secure automatic qualification for the finals.

Demonstrations after soccer matches have often turned political in the past, with fans embolden by their numbers to chant slogans against the state.

Mohammad Khatami, Iran's popular reform-minded president, had appealed to soccer fans before Sunday's game to avoid any wild celebrations in the case of a victory over Bahrain.