South Korea beat the United Arab Emirates three to one in a regional Olympic soccer preliminary in Abu Dhabi early Thursday.

With Thursday’s victory, South Korea leads Group F in the second preliminary group.

The team, headed by Dutch coach Pim Verbeek, will go up against Uzbekistan in its third preliminary match on March 28th in the South Korean city of Ansan.

Twelve nations, namely the winners and runners-up from Asia's six preliminary groups, will be drawn into three separate groups.

The three winners from those groups will qualify for the Beijing Olympic finals next year.