North Korea is facing the prospect of missing out on the Olympics this summer. Australia and South Korea also booked their places in the final qualifying round alongside resurgent Malaysia, while United Arab Emirates dashed North Korean hopes with a narrow 2-1 aggregate win.

But the biggest casualty of the night was China, who had a player sent off and a goal disallowed in Muscat before humble Oman scored three goals in extra time to run out 4-1 aggregate winners.

Japan edged over North Korea in the women's football. The winner came against the run of play in a tense game of few clear-cut chances, Japan's Azusa Iwashimizu heading in unchallenged from a corner on 74 minutes.

"We've never been Asian champions before and that was our goal when we came here," said Japan coach Norio Sasaki.

"The victory was down to the players' will to win, and although we still have some shortcomings and room to improve, we will work hard and we want to be world champions. But this was a very good tournament for us."

Middlesbrough Ladies football team lost their first match in their high-profile North Korea trip. The team left last week for the four-day trip to one of the world's most secretive societies.

On Sunday, they were beaten 6-2 by North Korean women's team April 25, the Korean Central News Agency said. The visit is the latest event in a relationship which stretches back to the 1966 World Cup when the North Korea team played in Middlesbrough. The Middlesbrough team arrived in the capital Pyongyang on Saturday.