DUBAI: Son Heung-Min celebrated his move to Tottenham Hotspur with a hat-trick as South Korea smashed eight past lowly Laos while Asian champions Australia battered Bangladesh 5-0 as the continent’s elite made light work of the region’s minnows in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.

Japan eased past Cambodia 3-0 in Saitama to secure their first win of qualifying and former Asian champions Iraq kicked off their Group ‘F’ campaign by downing Taiwan 5-1 in Tehran.

Only Hong Kong bucked the trend, holding big brothers China to a surprise goalless draw in a politically fraught encounter in Shenzhen, played out in front of a heavy police presence, to stay top and unbeaten after three games in Group ‘C’.

Hong Kong are part of a group of weaker nations that have taken advantage of the revamp of Asian qualifying that has thrown them in with the continent’s classiest following a plea for more matches.

They along with Guam, Palestine and Singapore had taken surprise group leads after two rounds across the eight pools but Thursday’s early results showed most are unlikely to be there when the second round concludes in March.

Hong Kong kept Alain Perrin’s China in check to improve to seven points, two ahead of China, with a gritty draw played under tight security on the 70th anniversary of Japan’s World War II defeat.

Visiting fans were heard chanting “We are Hong Kong!” in English, a nod to the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s British colonial past and rising anti-Beijing sentiment.

And goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai was similarly defiant, pulling off a string of saves as Hong Kong ensured a markedly different result to their 7-0 qualifying defeat in China in 2004.

As a busy night of qualifiers continued, new Spurs signing Son put in the performance so far when he bagged a hat-trick among South Korea’s eight unanswered goals against tiny Laos in Group ‘G’.

The English Premier League new boy struck two of South Korea’s three goals before the break and he completed his treble on 74 minutes as the hosts ran riot in the second half.

Australia cast off internal upheaval over a pay dispute as they scored four times in the opening 29 minutes in Perth despite missing a number of first team players from the starting line-up to move to the top of Group ‘B’.

Players boycotted pre-match promotional appearances but they showed no signs of mutiny on the pitch with first-half goals from Mathew Leckie, a brace from Tom Rogic and Nathan Burns putting the hosts clear before Aaron Mooy added a fifth in the second half.

After being held to a surprising goalless draw by Singapore in their first Group ‘E’ match in June, Japan were desperate for a convincing win.

Keisuke Honda opened the scoring with a left-footed shot in the 28th minute, and Maya Yoshida doubled the advantage early in the second half with an angled shot into the left corner of the net.

Shinji Kagawa put the result beyond doubt in the 61st minute when he was left unmarked in front of the goal and calmly tapped in from close range.

Udinese fullback Ali Adnan added to his burgeoning reputation with a brilliant cut back and blasted finish as Iraq, buoyed by goalkeeper Noor Sabri coming out of retirement, proved too strong for Taiwan.

Taiwan trailed 1-0 at the break before Iraq added four more in the second half that included three goals in the last 10 minutes.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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