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Top-ranked Australia looked to have put last year's miserable Asian Cup debut behind them when they trounced Qatar 3-0 in Melbourne to make the early headway in Group One.

South Korea, Asia's most successful World Cup team, began their path towards their seventh successive finals with a 4-0 win over unfancied Turkmenistan, while Japan froze out their opponents from tropical Thailand with a 4-1 win in icy Saitama.

Australia relied on their Europe-based players to tie up their match inside the first 33 minutes, with goals from Karlsruhe striker Josh Kennedy, Everton's Tim Cahill and

Palermo's Mark Bresciano delighting new coach Pim Verbeek and the near-capacity crowd of 50,969.

"We played a fantastic first half. We created chances, we scored great goals, we never gave them one chance," Verbeek said.

"I'm very proud of what they did."

Thailand were given little chance in the falling snow against three-times Asian champions Japan, who went ahead on 21minutes when Yasuhito Endo converted a superb curling free kick from 30 metres.

Japanese celebrations were cut short seconds later when pacy Thai striker Teerathep Winothai stunned the home side by equalising with a stinging long-range effort.

The visitors, started to fall apart after the break when Narongchai Vachiraban's attempted clearance fell to Yoshito Okubo, who prodded home on 55 minutes.

Narongchai was sent off soon after, paving the way for Japan to cement the Group Two win with headed goals from Yuji Nakazawa on 66 minutes and substitute Seiichiro Maki in stoppage time.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada, in charge for the second time after steering Japan to their first World Cup finals in 1998, said the score had flattered his team.

"These games are never easy but we may have underestimated them a bit," Okada told reporters.

"Scoring three goals from set pieces is nice but it's worrying we only scored one from open play."

South Korea, semi-finalists at the 2002 World Cup, left it close to halftime to get off the mark against Turkmenistan in Group Three, with defender Kwak Tae-hwi heading home a delicate cross from Fulham's Seol Ki-hyeon.

Seol scored the first of his two goals after the break before Manchester United's Park Ji-sung's curling effort from the corner of the box beat the keeper on 70 minutes.

Seol rounded off the win 13 minutes later, latching on to Lee Kwan-woo's pass to slide the ball into the net.

South Korean coach Huh Jong-moo said: "I'm happy with the performance tonight. Turkmenistan didn't play that badly. It's just that our team was better."

Twenty teams from Asia and the Middle East are vying for a maximum of five regional places at the 32-team 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Reuters