Auckland: Australia and Japan left it late on Friday as they began their bid to reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with narrow home victories over lowly ranked opposition.
After receiving byes in the opening two rounds of Asian qualifying after reaching last year's World Cup finals, both looked rusty in their first competitive matches since contesting the Asian Cup final in January.
Japan's defender Maya Yoshida was the Asian champions' match-winner as his 94th minute header broke the resistance of defensive-minded North Korea in the battle of 2010 finalists at the Saitama Stadium.
"The players battled until the end against a great wall North Korea put in front of us. They deserve credit for the way they kept hammering away," Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who has yet to taste defeat in charge of the Blue Samurai, said in a pitchside interview after the 1-0 win.
Japan, without the creativity of injured attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda, were heading for a disappointing draw against the 114th FIFA ranked visitors, who had Pak Kwang-ryong sent off with seven minutes to go, before Yoshida converted Hiroshi Kiyotake's cross.
In Brisbane, Australian striker Alex Brosque came off the bench to fire the winner in the 86th minute that sent the Socceroos to a 2-1 victory and deny Thailand an unlikely point.
"It feels like a loss, but the positive is we got the three points," Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer told reporters.
These were the first two of 10 qualifiers played across five groups in the region on Friday as the 20 sides battle it out for the four guaranteed places in Brazil with a fifth possible via a playoff.
The group winners and runners-up from the third round will advance to the fourth round where the 10 teams will be split into two groups with the top two sides from each advancing to Brazil.
Elsewhere, winger Yu Hai scored the winner as China came from behind to beat visitors Singapore 2-1 in a heated match 1,900 metres above sea level in Kunming.
Managed by former Spain boss Jose Camacho, China fell behind to a goal from 41-year-old striker Aleksandr Duric in the 33rd minute and missed the chance to level after 58 minutes when Singapore's substitute keeper Lionel Lewis saved a penalty from Qu Bo.
The hosts made no mistake with their second penalty just over 10 minutes later, awarded when Yu Dabao went down in the box although television replays suggested he was lunging for the ball rather than being pulled back.
Zheng Zhi slotted home from the spot and Yu Hai completed the comeback four minutes later when he prodded in a rebound after Lewis had saved a shot from Yu Dabao.
Frustration bubbled in the Singapore camp at what they saw as two dubious penalty decisions with coach Raddy Avramovich given his marching orders after 71 minutes for protesting.
They were angered even further when Duric was brought down in the box but no penalty was given.
Singapore players surrounded Lebanese referee Andre El Haddad after the final whistle gesturing with their hands and shouting with winger Qiu Li then shown a yellow card.
South Korea, in contrast, enjoyed an easy night at the Goyang Stadium as they thrashed lowly Lebanon 6-0 at home.
New Arsenal striker and Korean captain Park Chu-young helped himself to a hat-trick against the lowest-ranked Asian side remaining in the qualifiers, with Sunderland forward Ji Dong-won netting twice and Kim Jung Woo contributing the other.
Visitors Jordan spoiled former Brazilian playmaker Zico's debut as Iraq coach, beating the 2007 Asian champions 2-0, scoring either side of the break through Hasan Mahmoud and Abd Allah Deeb.
Shatskikh Maksim's 72nd minute strike gave Uzbekistan a narrow 1-0 victory against a Tajikistan side promoted to the group after FIFA disqualified Syria for fielding George Mourad, a midfielder who once represented Sweden.
Javad Nekonam scored twice for Iran in a 3-0 win against Indonesia while Kuwait edged out United Arab Emirates 3-2.
2022 World Cup hosts Qatar drew 0-0 with regional rivals Bahrain, while the Oman-Saudi Arabia match also ended in a similar deadlock.
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