Gratuitous goal makes glory swift In the end it didn't matter. Australia could have, had it owned a crystal ball, relaxed and played out a scoreless draw with a hard-to-break-down Iraq at ANZ Stadium and gone through to Brazil 2014. Holger Osieck's men could even have lost and still progressed, had they known what was happening half a world away in Amman, Jordan, during the early hours of the morning when they were celebrating the fact that they had guaranteed their ticket anyway with the 1-0 win over Iraq. The Jordanians, so abject in that 4-0 thumping in Melbourne a week ago, did what they needed in front of their own fans and beat Oman 1-0 thanks to a 57th-minute goal by Ahmad Ibrahim in a game in which the visitors had plenty of chances but could not finish those that came their way. Australia celebrate its crucial goal. The result means that the Jordanians finish the section with 10 points, one ahead of Oman, behind top-of-the-table Japan (17) and Australia (13). The mathematics say that even had the Socceroos lost at home to Iraq, they would have finished with 10 points, the same as Jordan, but would have progressed anyway thanks to a vastly superior goal difference. Of course, no one could see into the future at ANZ on Tuesday night, so supersub "Jesus" Josh Kennedy's late winner left a nation in raptures - knowing it didn't have to stay glued to a television screen into the small hours to find out its ultimate fate. Jordan now heads into the Asian play-off against Uzbekistan, who will be feeling very unlucky not to have qualified for Brazil by the direct route after smashing Qatar 5-1 in Tashkent to finish level on points with South Korea, who went down 0-1 at home to Iran. The South Koreans, serial World Cup qualifiers, almost blew it but just scraped into second place in the group behind the Iranians on goal difference. South Korea went into the game in the strongest position of the three with 14 points and a plus-seven goal difference, needing only a draw to go through against Iran, who had 13 points and a goal difference of plus-five. The Uzbeks were two points adrift in third spot with 11 points and a goal difference of just plus-one. Robbie Kruse and Archie Thompson look ahead. Reza Ghoochannejhad's 60th-minute goal gave the Iranians a shock win in Ulsan, meaning they topped the group with 16 points. The South Koreans were forced to look on nervously as Uzbekistan piled on the pressure against Qatar, who had taken a shock first-half lead, which they held to the interval. But the Uzbeks went on a scoring spree in the second period, piling on five goals in the final half-hour. When Ulugbek Bakaev netted in the first minute of stoppage time, Uzbekistan's goal difference had spread to plus-five, just one less than South Korea's. It was agonisingly close, but not quite enough. The Uzbeks now face the Jordanians in a two-legged play-off later this year, with the winner going on to face the fifth-placed team in South America, which could be Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela or Peru, in a two-legged play-off in November. Not that Australia will be worried. Holger Osieck now has the chance to spend the next 12 months mixing and blending his team, bringing in some fresh faces to improve Australia's competitiveness in Brazil.