LONDON, Oct 22: 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 Sunday.

The Saudis, the 22nd team to go through, finished top of Asian zone final round group A to qualify automatically 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 finshed 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 UEA 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.

List of 22 World Cup qualifiers to date Following is a list of the 22 countries who have qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea:

Holders: France