Thailand come ever so close but Vietnam scramble to clear.

Iraq Bahrain 0:0. Iran still face both at home so they'll be ready but have all the work to do.

Vietnam Thailand 0:0 sees UAE in a similar situation to Iran. 

Turkmenistan top the group but only have 3 more games. South Korea should turn it around.

Jordan lead Taiwan 3:0 at ht. 

FT: JPN 🇯🇵 1 - 4 🇻🇪 VEN

Japan suffer a defeat to Venezuela in a friendly match at the Suita City Stadium!

Brazil 3 South Korea 0. Both full strength. Saudi Paraguay 0:0.

What was the score in our fri-  oh wait.

Unsurprising 5-0 win for Jordan, leaving them and Kuwait on 10 points, with Australia on 12 and a game in hand. Beating Kuwait at home in the next matchday in March followed by a win away in Nepal will seal it, as long as Kuwait beat Jordan or draw.

Syria pulling away in Group A with a win over Philippines, it'll be a battle between the latter and China, both on 7 points, for the runners up spot.

Good news for Iran as Iraq and Bahrain play out a 0-0 draw. Iran still with a 5 point deficit on Iraq.

Uzbeks with an easy 2-0 win over Palestine to leapfrog Saudi at the top of Group D, Singapore with an away win against Yemen propelling them to third, one point behind Saudi.

Qatar needing a penalty to beat Afghanistan 0-1, Oman ending India's hopes also winning 1-0, Qatar and Oman to duke it out for the top spot. Go Oman.

1-1 stalemate between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both on seven points and will be aiming for the runners up spot.

Vietnam and Thailand share points, but it's not all good news for the UAE as they've been leapfrogged by Malaysia who beat Indonesia and are now in fourth. Hopefully the ASEAN teams can keep the UAE out of the top two.

Group H seemingly wide open as Turkmenistan leapfrog to the top on 9 points with a win over Sri Lanka, while Lebanon and North Korea have a scoreless draw leaving both teams as well as South Korea all on 8 points.

That was definitely a goal for Vietnam...  had that counted, Vietnam would be on 13 points and almost a foot into the next round. In saying that, the Thai's finished the game much stronger, with most of the possession, away from home no less. Vietnam still lead the group on 11 points, but have 2 tough away matches in Kuala Lumpur and UAE, and a home game against Indonesia. Its a very open group, besides Indonesia, anyone can still top it. 

I enjoyed reading this thread this evening, catching up on events. Thanks chaps!

Yeah frustrating. Sadly I think Iran, Saudi and the UAE will turn it on but the East Asian sides have a decent shot for 2nd. Oman are building their account nicely. South Korea should be alright. Lebanon really had to beat North Korea to stake a stronger claim.

Thanks for the updates guys, much appreciated.

As long as we win the next two games we would've qualified regardless of the results of all other games. On 18 points it is mathematically impossible for us to finish 3rd in our group. It would also be mathematically impossible for us to finish in the bottom 3 2nd place teams as the 2nd place team in groups F,G and H cannot make it to 18 points. So after we win the next two games we can send a HAL team to the final 2 qualification matches and a full strength squad to Copa. 
I would enjoy seeing how the likes of Deng and Lawrence Thomas cope with the responsibility.

We could also use the last two matches to cap all those at risk of being lured elsewhere - Dykes, Cummings, Toure etc as they are ‘official’ matches.

Would love to see it. Last time we had the luxury was 2008 with the China home game we lost 1:0.

It's been discussed somewhere. Would we be permitted to name a squad for the qualifiers separately from the Copa America? 

It appears for Copa 2019 there was a cutoff of 2 weeks beforehand to name the 23. 

If this applies in 2020 it would be before both qualifiers however I wouldn't see any reason for Australia to be restricted from selecting separate squads with say 30 in camp from late May and several changes from the qualifiers 23 to the Copa 23. 

From memory Mexico and USA have had Gold Cups back to back with Copa Americas in the past and have potentially had a separate 23 or under 23 team play in the Copa.