Australia, Japan and South Korea booked their places at next year's Beijing Olympic football tournament after draws with North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain respectively on Wednesday.
They join hosts China, who qualified automatically, as Asia's four representatives at next year's showpiece event. Australia ground out a 1-1 draw against North Korea in Pyongyang while Japan held Saudi Arabia 0-0 in Tokyo and South Korea did the same with Bahrain in Seoul.
Australia's men have never missed an Olympics since football was opened to professionals in 1988, but this is the first time they have qualified through Asia. North Korea dominated in the opening half and the Aussies trailed to Pak Chol-Min's 10th minute strike at the break. But the Olyroos knuckled down and were back on level terms 20 minutes from time when skipper Mark Milligan looped a header into the net although it appeared to strike the hand of Adrian Leijer before crossing the line.
Syrian referee Muhsen Basma allowed the goal to stand despite Korean protests and it ended in a 1-1 draw allowing Australia to qualify at the expense of Iraq, who play a meaningless match against Lebanon later in the day.
"We are very honoured because we are the first Australian football team that has qualified for a major tournament for Asia," Australian coach Graham Arnold was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo news agency. "We're learning a lot in Asia with the conditions ... that we're not used to as Australians. We played North Korea here ... in freezing cold weather. So I'm very proud of my players."
In Tokyo, Japan only needed a point to confirm their place and they did what was required. "We couldn't play our game because of the Saudi attacks, but I was able to accomplish my mission," said Japan Olympic coach Yasuharu Sorimachi.
"We once fell to the nether world after losing to Qatar, but it made us tougher, we became stronger mentally. Saudi Arabia had their chances in the first half, most notably when midfielder Saleh Abdullah Al Ghwainim fired a close-range shot which Japanese goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa gathered. Five minutes later, forward Mohammed Ibrahim Al Sahlawi's shot in the area was cleared by defender Hajime Hosogai.
But Japan completely dominated the second half and they were unlucky not to collect all three points. Group B was a tighter affair with South Korea on 11 points to Bahrain's 10, but the Koreans did enough at the Seoul World Cup Stadium to secure the point they needed, clinching their sixth straight Olympic berth.