Australia held to 0-0 draw by Indonesia in World Cup qualifying and China loses to Saudi Arabia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s stuttering start to the third round of World Cup qualifying hit another bump Tuesday with…

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s stuttering start to the third round of World Cup qualifying hit another bump Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Indonesia in Jakarta.

The result follows a 1-0 loss at home to Bahrain last week and leaves the Socceroos still without a goal in Group C as they aim for a sixth successive World Cup appearance.

Australia had 20 shots but was unable to convert and silence the 78,000 home fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

“Vastly improved performance and the boys showed that,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said. “But very disappointed. How many chances do we create? How many chances do we get? It has been a common theme for over a year.”

Australia still moved one point ahead of China, which fell to a last-minute 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in Dalian despite taking an early lead and then playing most of the match against 10 men.

China took the lead from a corner in the 14th minute when Saudi Arabia’s Ali Lajimi put the ball into his own net, and the visitors then went a man down five minutes later when Mohamed Kanno was sent off for kicking out at Jiang Shenglong.

But a bad week for Chinese soccer — which saw China lose 7-0 to Japan last week and the country’s Football Association ban 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption — only got worse.

Defender Hasan Kadesh helped Saudi Arabia turn the game around as he first equalized seven minutes before the break by heading home a corner for his first international goal and then added a second in the 90th to give Roberto Mancini’s team a vital win to stay on course for a seventh World Cup appearance.

The 18 teams in the third round of qualifying have been divided into three groups of six. The top two from each automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The teams that place third and fourth will advance to a fourth qualifying round to compete for two more places.

In Group A, North Korea and Qatar drew 2-2 in a game played in Laos after being moved from Pyongyang.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer