Iran and South Korea qualify for 2014 World Cup as Uzbekistan miss out

Iran and South Korea both qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals after a 1-0 victory for the Iranian visitors in Ulsan on Tuesday. Reza Ghoochannejhad scored the winner in the 60th minute and a resolute defensive display ensured Iran topped Asia's qualifying Group A and took one of the two places on offer.
South Korea's defeat left them relying on a convenient result in Tashkent, where a victory for Uzbekistan over Qatar would bring them level on points with the 2002 semi-finalists, although the Koreans enjoyed a significant advantage on goal difference. Uzbekistan needed to win by six goals to qualify.
That looked extremely unlikely when, the hosts having missed a flurry of chances in the first half, Qatar took the lead in the 37th minute through Abdulqadir Ilyas, his first international goal.
But the Uzbeks engineered a spectacular turnaround in the last half-hour, sparked by Bahodir Nasimov's 60th-minute equaliser, scored with his first touch after arriving as a substitute. Oleg Zoteev, another substitute, put Uzbekistan in the lead 12 minutes after that, and Nasimov added his second two minutes later. Odil Ahmedov and Ulugbek Bakaev completed the scoring in the dying minutes, but the 5-1 victory not quite enough to overhaul South Korea.
Uzbekistan will now play off against Oman, who came third behind Japan and Australia in Group B, for the right to face the team that finish fifth in South American qualifying, over two legs, for a World Cup place.
Meanwhile in Africa, Ethiopian officials admitted they fielded an ineligible player in a qualifier against Botswana and said they would not appeal any Fifa disciplinary rulings made against them.
"We have evaluated the situation and we came across the issue that we made a mistake," Sahlu Gebrewold, the chief executive of Ethiopia's Football Association, said. "We accepted the allegation that this was inappropriate. There won't be an appeal from us being lodged."
Ethiopia are now almost certain to be docked three points, meaning that South Africa – who had considered themselves out of contention after a 2-1 defeat in Addis Ababa at the weekend – would still be able to qualify if results in the final round of fixtures, on 6 September, go their way.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/18/iran-south-korea-qualify-world-cup