Saudi Arabia, which fired Coach Slobodan Santrac after opening with a tie and a loss, took over the Group A lead with a 4-0 win over upstart Bahrain in Manama. The Saudis, who have won three straight games, can all but wrap up their third straight berth in the World Cup if they beat Iran Sept. 28 in Riyadh. Group A RESULTS Sept. 22 in Bangkok Thailand 1 (Suksomkit 38) Iraq 1 (Ridha 63). Sept. 21 in Manama Bahrain 0 Saudi Arabia 4 (O. Al-Dossari 26, Al-Shaihan 28, Al-Waked 40, Al-Jaber 89). Sept. 15 in Bangkok Thailand 1 (Senamuang 30) Saudi Arabia 3 (Al Jaber 47, 70, Bin Shahon 55). Sept. 14 in Tehran Iran 0 Bahrain 0. Sept. 7 in Baghdad Iraq 1 (I.Mohamed 20) Iran 2 (Karimi 30, Ali Daei 84). Sept. 6 in Manama Bahrain 1 (Al-Dousari 17) Thailand 1 (Senamuang 64). Sept. 1 in Bangkok Thailand 0 Iran 0. Aug. 31 in Manama Saudi Arabia 1 (O. Al-Dossary 45) Iraq 0. Aug. 24 in Manama Iran 2 (Daei pen. 54, 64) Saudi Arabia 0. Aug. 23 in Manama Bahrain 2 (Yosuf 58, Al-Kawari 81) Iraq 0. Aug. 17 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia 1 (O. Al-Dossari 82) Bahrain 1 (Salmeen 18). Aug. 17 in Baghdad Iraq 4 (H.Mohammed 23, 76, L.Mohammed 70, Hussien 84) Thailand 0. STANDINGS

TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
Saudi Arabia 5 3 1 1 9 4 10
Iran 4 2 2 0 4 1 8
Bahrain 5 1 3 1 4 6 6
Iraq 5 1 1 3 6 6 4
Thailand 5 0 3 2 3 9 3
SCHEDULE Sept. 28 Iraq-Bahrain Saudi Arabia-Iran Oct. 5 Iran-Thailand Iraq-Saudi Arabia Oct. 12 Iran-Iraq Oct. 13 Thailand-Bahrain Oct. 19 Bahrain-Iran Saudi Arabia-Thailand Group B RESULTS Sept. 22 in Tashkent Uzbekistan 0 United Arab Emirates 1 (Omar 5). Sept. 21 in Muscat Oman 0 Qatar 3 (Rasoul 26, Mustafa 33, Al-Enazi 76). Sept. 15 in Shenyang China 2 (Li Weifeng 63, Fan Zhiyi 76) Uzbekistan 0. Sept. 14 in Muscat Oman 1 (Salim 52) UAE 1 (Ahmed 13). Sept. 8 in Tashkent Uzbekistan 5 (Irismetov 17, 73, Shatskikh pen. 38, Kasymov 50, 67) Oman 0. Sept. 7 in Doha Qatar 1 (Al Noobi 31) China 1 (Li Wei Seng 90). Aug. 31 in Muscat Oman 0 China 2 (Qi Hong 26, Fan Zhiyi pen. 40). Aug. 31 in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates 0 Qatar 2 (Khalifa 65, Nasser Ali 71 Aug. 26 in Tashkent Uzbekistan 2 (Irismetov 36, Kasymov 50) Qatar 1 (Al-Tamimi 88). Aug. 25 in Beijing China 3 (Li Xiaopeng 4, Qi Hong 20, Hao Haidong 34) UAE 0. Aug. 17 in Abu Dhabi UAE 4 (Salem 21, Hareb pen. 33, Ali 44, Bakhit 85) Uzbekistan 1 (Shirshov 37). Aug. 16 in Doha Qatar 0 Oman 0. STANDINGS
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
China 4 3 1 0 8 1 10
Qatar 5 2 2 1 7 3 8
Uzbekistan 5 2 0 3 8 8 6
UAE 5 2 1 2 8 7 7
Oman 5 0 2 3 1 11 2
SCHEDULE Sept. 27 UAE-China Sept. 28 Qatar-Uzbekistan Oct. 4 Qatar-UAE Oct. 7 China-Oman Oct. 13 Oman-Uzbekistan China-Qatar Oct. 19 UAE-Oman Uzbekistan-China