Sebastian Soria of Qatar celebrates after scoring against China during their World Cup qualifying match at the Olympic Centre Stadium in Tianjin, yesterday. (AFP)

TIANJIN, China • China crashed 1-0 to Qatar yesterday, leaving their bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa in tatters and coach Vladimir Petrovic’s job on the line.

A Sebastian Soria penalty in the 14th minute was enough to earn Qatar the vital victory, putting them on seven points in Group 1 alongside Australia, who play later in the day against Iraq in Dubai.

China trail the group leaders by four points with just two games left and need to win against Iraq next weekend and the Socceroos later this month to have any hope of making the final phase of qualifying.

“We are very happy because we take three very important points ... but it is also very important to remember that we have not yet qualified,” Qatar’s Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati told journalists

Qatari fans celebrating after their team defeated China 1-0 in an Asia 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the Olympic Centre Stadium in Tianjin, China, yesterday. Striker Sebastian Soria scored a penalty kick in the 14th minute to give Qatar a victory which put them in second place in Group 1 with seven points from four matches. Australia are the leaders with same number of points from four games. Qatar play their next match in Doha when they host Australia on June 14. See also page 32. (Syed Omar)

“We are better than yesterday, but I hope that after we play Australia we will be in a better position than today.”

Qatar’s lone goal came when Lebanese referee Talaat Najm awarded them a penalty after forward Gao Lin brought down Yusef Ali in the box.

Uruguayan-born striker Soria slotted the ball into the right side of the net, with Chinese goalkeeper Sun Zhenyu sent the wrong way.

China has only scored one goal in four matches in its qualifying campaign that has seen them slump to one loss and three draws.

Following yesterday’s dismal performance, a dejected Petrovic admitted that his job could be at risk.

“If there are problems, really because we lost the match, it is not the players fault, if someone must leave then I can leave this team,” Petrovic said.

“This game was lost not because China did not play well, there were other elements that were not right ... when our team attacked there were (too many) calls by the referee that disrupted our attack,” the Serb added.

Before the match Petrovic promised his side would attack and he was true to his word in the early stages as Gao fired a high ball that narrowly missed barely 30 seconds into the game.

In the 11th minute, Chinese captain Zheng Zhi beat his man near the right touchline and blasted over a cross to Zhu Ting whose right-footed flick hit the post.

But the chances soon dried up for China as the Qatari back line, anchored by Brazilian-born defender Marcone Ameral, repeatedly frustrated their advances.

In the second half, China appeared tentative and overly patient in their attack, while the Qataris packed their back line and were content to run time off the clock.

Qatar could have made it 2-0 with 18 minutes left but Soria’s free kick was scrambled clear by ‘keeper Sun.

As the over 40,000 Chinese fans began shouting catcalls at their players, the team’s frustration with Qatar’s time-wasting tactics boiled over in a series of altercations between the two sides.

It led to Sun Jihai being off from the Chinese bench with 11 minutes left for remonstrating with the referee.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan became the first team to reach the fourth and final round of Asian World Cup qualifying yesterday while heavyweights Iran and Iraq rekindled their hopes with vital wins.

Substitute Alexander Geynrikh netted 10 minutes from time to give the Uzbeks a 1-0 win over Singapore. Bahrain missed their chance to join them in round four after being held 1-1 by Thailand in Manama.

Iran and Iraq secured decisive 1-0 wins over the United Arab Emirates and Australia respectively to breathe life into their South Africa 2010 campaigns but China’s hopes took a major dent when they lost 1-0 to Qatar.

South Korea clung on to their narrow Group 3 lead with a 1-0 victory over Jordan and In Group 2, recent World Cup regulars Japan salvaged a 1-1 draw with Oman to stay second.

Iran got themselves out of trouble when Ferydoon Zandi netted after eight minutes and a superbly taken goal from Emad Rida gave Asian Cup holders Iraq a crucial win over Australia in their must-win match in Dubai.

Rida’s curling effort on 28 minutes dipped over the head of Socceroos’ goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer into the top of the net to move the Iraqis to four points behind Australia and Qatar, who both have seven points.

“It was a very unlucky goal. We were in complete control and just waiting for the game to open up because Iraq had to win,” Australia coach Pim Verbeek said in a televised interview.

“We have to give credit to the Iraqi team. They have some very intelligent players.” Choe Kum-chol struck in the 72nd minute to lift North Korea to a 1-0 win over Turkmenistan to hold on to second place in their group, trailing fierce foes South Korea on goal difference.

Yasuhito Endo’s equaliser eight minutes after the break and a vital penalty save from goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki spared Japan’s blushes in another unconvincing performance away from home, turning up the pressure on coach Takeshi Okada.

Ahmed Mubarak opened the scoring after 11 minutes for Oman, who paid the price for trying to defend a 1-0 lead, while Bahrain blew their chance to advance two games early, drawing 1-1 with a Thailand team playing for pride. Bahrain are top on 10 points.

The top two teams in the five groups will advance to round four.