Bangkok: Regional heavyweights Japan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia all suffered surprise defeats as lower-ranked teams dominated Asia’s World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday.

Three-time qualifiers Japan, missing their European-based players, went down 0-1 to Bahrain in Manama with Aala Hubail’s 77th minute strike moving the gritty Gulf side to the top of the Group II standings.

Saudi Arabia, who have been to the finals four times, were thrashed 0-3 by Uzbekistan, while the misery continued for unsettled Asian champions Iraq, who are now rooted to the bottom of Group 1 after losing 0-2 to Qatar.

Mark Schwarzer’s late penalty save helped an injury-hit Australia scrape a point away to struggling China to keep the Socceroos atop Group I.

Middlesbrough keeper Schwarzer looked to have cost Australia the match when he brought down Qu Bo in the area, but he instantly made amends by stopping Shao Jiayi’s spot kick with a minute remaining in high-altitude in Kunming.

In Tashkent, the Saudis lacked their usual firepower and were stunned when the Uzbeks scored three times in 23 minutes.

Timur Kapadze scored just before the break for Uzbekistan, Maksim Shatskikh added another on 65 minutes and Server Djeparov converted a spot-kick two minutes later to move the Uzbeks three points clear at the top and a step closer to their first finals.

Bosnian-born striker Aleksandar Duric scored his third qualifying goal to help Singapore see off Lebanon 2-0 in the other Group IV match.

South Korea were held to a surprise 0-0 draw by archrivals North Korea in a politically-charged Group II qualifier played in Shanghai after a row over flags and national anthems.