We’re back after a month with much of action, both in Asia and Africa. Whereas in Africa the preliminary round has taken place over the week, the first two matchdays of the Asian qualifiers – that is of the group stages of the second round – will be the point of attention today. The African qualifiers will be discussed at a later time along with a preview on the group stages of the second round to be drawn at a later stage this year as the first games will only be played in March next year.
So, looking at Asia, the first two matchdays – all played on the 5th and 10th of September – have now been completed. This however doesn’t mean that every country has played two games as of now, because the groups are divided over an odd number of teams (five), which means that there will be a total of twelve matchdays until we’ll know who proceeds to the next phase, to have a chance at ultimately reaching the FIFA World Cup to be played in Qatar in 2022. Nevertheless, all of the remaining nations that are still eligible to qualify for the World Cup have at least played one qualifying match, so we’ll have an idea on how they’re going to perform during this campaign. Most of them also played a friendly match during the international break, which might be interesting to take a look at. I’ll discuss the groups individually, looking at the different games played over the week. I won’t describe them all in detail, but I’ll pick the most noticeable matches, either because of the teams involved or the turn of events that took place that are of any interest.
Group A (China, Guam, Maldives, Philippines, Syria)
The first game of this second round saw the small island nation Guam – located in the Pacific Ocean – host another island nation, namely that of the Maldives, which is located in the Indian Ocean. Guam – second lowest ranked nation on the FIFA World Ranking (190th) – impressed in their home game in the preliminary round a few months ago, disposing Bhutan by 5-0, which led them qualify for the second round for the second time in their history. In front of a mere 700 people, Guam couldn’t repeat their winning home form, due to a 27th-minute goal by Maldivian striker Mahudhee, which turned out to be the only goal, giving the Maldives the first three points of the group stages. Although the home team seemed to create some chances, they were unable to worry the Maldives national team, who hadn’t won in almost a year, when they beat India at home. The Maldives also had a disappointing campaign in the Indian Ocean Island Games played over the summer this year, where they lost all three games quite convincingly.
A few days later, Maldives had the chance to add to their good start, although a visit by the Chinese national team was never going to turn out an easy task to keep some points on the island. In the Maldives then, China breezed to victory, beating them 5-0. ‘Team Dragon’ – coached by Italian legend Marcello Lippi who led Italy to the 2006 FIFA World Cup trophy – took some thirty minutes to find the first goal, but then didn’t look back. Brazilian born Elkeson was able to score twice in the late stages of the game (one by converting a penalty). The player of Chinese giants Guangzhou Evergrande – now coached by Fabio Cannavaro – made his debut, meaning that he has a scoring record of two per game as of now. Lippi resigned earlier this year after a disappointing Asian Cup and was replaced by another Italian legend – who was part of that succesful 2006 team – Fabio Cannavaro. However, Lippi was reappointed in May. China has played only one game yet in qualifying, but they did play a friendly game against Myanmar about two weeks ago, which also resulted in a comfortable win; 4-1.
Guam also had a chance to redeem itself against the Philippines, again at home at the Guam FA National Training Center in Dededo, but the Azkal (which translates to Street Dogs) proved to be a much better side as is also displayed on the FIFA World Ranking as they triumphed on the small island of Guam; 1-4. The Philippines were able to take a quick 2-0 lead after 12 minutes, until Guam-born Marcus Lopez scored a penalty in 67th minute to make the game seemingly more exciting. However, only four minutes later regained an advantage of two, and was able to score a fourth in the closing minutes. Interestingly, all Filipino goals were scored by four individual foreign-born players, three of which were born in Germany.
The Philippines needed the goals however, after an earlier home defeat on the first matchday to Syria. Syria, expected to compete with China for that first spot in the group, came from behind however, after the home team took the lead in the 6th minute after a header of another foreign-born (Spanish) Filipino player Javier Patiño. A few minutes later Syrian striker Omar Al Somah equalised with a beautiful header towards the top corner. The go-ahead goal for Syria fell in the 30th minute with a great strike by Khaled Mobayed, hitting the top of the netting after a powerful shot. After a converted Syrian penalty early in the second half, Al Somah would find his second goal of the game, again after a strong header. Al Somah, who plays for Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia where he roughly has a one-on-one goal scoring record in the Saudi Premier League over the past five seasons, has now scored ten times after 22 appearances. Both teams were able to score another goal each in the final ten minutes of the game, making the score 2-5 in total. Syria, who surprisingly didn’t win any of the four games (2 draws, 2 losses) during the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in August and also didn’t impress during the AFC Asian Cup in January (1 draw, 2 losses), has started their qualifying campaign well after this win and will look with confidence towards their confrontations with China come November and June.
Group A results: 5 sep. Guam 0-1 Maldives 5 sep. Philippines 2-5 Syria 10 sep. Guam 1-4 Philippines 10 sep. Maldives 0-5 China Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS China 1 1-0-0 5-0 +5 3 Syria 1 1-0-0 5-2 +3 3 Philippines 2 1-0-1 6-6 0 3 Maldives 2 1-0-1 1-5 -4 3 Guam 2 0-0-2 1-5 -4 0
Group B (Australia, Jordan, Kuwait, Nepal, Taiwan)
The Taipei Municipal Stadium was host to the first game in Group B between Taiwan – registered as Chinese Taipei – and Jordan. In a group where Australia is likely to dominate, Jordan would be the foremost team to claim that second spot. This would imply that they can’t drop too many points, especially against the weaker sides, since only the four best second-ranked teams qualify to the second round. A long journey to the island of Taiwan would prove to be a big first hurdle during their campaign as they scraped out a small victory in front of close to 6,000 spectators; 1-2. The first goal for ‘The Chivalrous’ was scored in the 19th minute by Baha’ Faisal after Taiwanese goalkeeper Pan When-chiech failed to keep hold of the ball. A second goal was kicked in by Ahmed Samir after the same goalkeeper pushed the ball out quite unconvincingly. Wen Chih-hao scored the 1-2, but it turned out to be too late for them.
Five days later, the same stadium was host to the second qualifying match for Taiwan, this time against the highlanders of Nepal, who hadn’t won a game in about a year and lost the opening game of the group stage 7-0 to Kuwait. In Kuwait City, the relatively small oil-rich nation had little issues with the Nepalese, who are obviously more used to the heights of the Himalayas than the desserts in Eastern Arabia at sea-level. Yousef Nasser scored the opening goal early in the game (6th minute) and would later add a second to his tally when scoring the 3-0. ‘The Blue Wave’ would add another two before the 90th minute and two more in extra time, ensuring the largest margin of victory during the first two matchdays of Asian qualifiers. Taiwan and Nepal had met a couple of months earlier, in June, when they played a friendly, also in Taiwan, which ended 1-1. An indirect free kick elevated the Nepalese spirits when it was headed in by 21-year old Anjan Bista, who already had 30 caps on his name, after he debuted in 2014 at the age of 16 for the national squad, though this was only his first goal. Taiwan then had the better chances, especially when they themselves almost converted an indirect free kick just on the brink of halftime, but the header by Chen Jui-chieh, but his header went just wide. In the second half however, a good shot from the edge of the box by Bista, would double Nepal’s lead as well as Bista’s goal production for his country, and secured a surprising Nepal win, as ‘The Amkhalis’ were clear underdogs, ranked 40 places below Taiwan on the FIFA World Ranking.
Also Kuwait played their second home game after their sensational 7-0 win earlier, but this time their opponent was from a completely different caliber; Australia. In front of 12,000, it was clear that both sides weren’t equally matches, as ‘The Socceroos’ grabbed a 2-0 lead only after 30 minutes, after two corners were both tapped in by Mathew Leckie, who currently plays at Hertha BSC in Germany. A few minutes later, Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Aaron Mooy scored the third goal, a nicely placed strike in the top corner from outside the sixteen. ‘The Blue Wave’, also playing in their traditional blue, created a couple of chances in the second half, but Australia’s win was already a certainty as it ended 0-3. Despite only playing one qualifier this week, Australia didn’t play a friendly match, whereas Jordan played Paraguay; 2-4.
Group B results: 5 sep. Taiwan 1-2 Jordan 5 sep. Kuwait 7-0 Nepal 10 sep. Taiwan 0-2 Nepal 10 sep. Kuwait 0-3 Australia Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Kuwait 2 1-0-1 7-3 +4 3 Australia 1 1-0-0 3-0 +3 3 Jordan 1 1-0-0 2-1 +1 3 Nepal 2 1-0-1 2-7 -5 3 Taiwan 2 0-0-2 1-4 -3 0
Group C (Bahrain, Cambodja, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq)
In a 45,000 packed Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia played their first match against of the secound round – after beating Pakistan in the preliminary round -against Hong Kong (formally a special administrative region of China). The battle between the two lowest ranked teams of Group C ended in a 1-1 draw after Hong Kong came in front in the 16th minute after a great run by Tan Chun Lok, who remained calm and put the visitors ahead. Keo Sokpheng made the equalizer before half time, and despite a dangerous shot by Chhin Chhoeun in the second half, which hit the post, both teams took one point home. ‘The Angkor Warriors’ – currently managed by Keisuke Honda and Félix Dalmás – are still on the up however, since they lost twice during their last FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign to the same Hong Kong side.
On Tuesday then, the Olympic stadium held another 45,000 fans when facing Bahrain. Bahrain – the oil-rich island in the Persian Gulf – who should be able to compete with Iraq for the second spot behind Iran, after drawing also 1-1 during matchday 1 when a late goal by Iraqi striker Mohanad Ali made sure that Iraq earned their point on the island of Bahrain. The most noticeable player during that game was Iraqi goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed who made a horrendous blunder in the sixth minute of the game, when a shot from distance by Kamil Al Aswad went straight through the goalkeeper’s arms. Hameed recovered during the game and made some great saves later on. His resilience was thus rewarded with the late equalizer. The Cambodians then, in front of their extravagant crowd, clearly struggled to keep Bahrain from scoring, as the away side had the clear upperhand during much of the game. However, as a result of great defensive interceptions and good goalkeeping by Keo Soksela, it took 78 minutes until Bahrain was finally able to score, when the Cambodian defense was unable to clear the ball after a corner kick and was tapped in by Kamil Al Aswad who scored his second goal in two qualifying matches. Iraq would get another 1-1 result later in the week when they drew against Uzbekistan in a friendly.
Hong Kong played their second game at home – in front of a 14,000 people crowd – against group favourites Iran. ‘Team Melli’ had an easy day out as they had plenty of chances during the first half. Sardar Azmoun – striker for Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia – scored his 29th international goal in the 23th minute. A few minutes later, Karim Ansarifard hit the cross bar when he attempted a bicycle kick. The former striker of among which Greek giants Olympiacos, would later get his goal after a regular tap in, setting the score at 0-2.
Group C results: 5 sep. Cambodia 1-1 Hong Kong 5 sep. Bahrain 1-1 Iraq 10 sep. Cambodia 0-1 Bahrain 10 sep. Hong Kong 0-2 Iran Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Bahrain 2 1-1-0 2-1 +1 4 Iran 1 1-0-0 2-0 +2 3 Iraq 1 0-1-0 1-1 0 1 Cambodia 2 0-1-1 1-2 -1 1 Hong Kong 2 0-1-1 1-3 -2 1
Group D (Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Yemen)
The modern 55,000 capacity National Stadium in Singapore was host of the qualifier between Singapore and Yemen. It ended in 2-2, although Yemen led the game by 2-1 at the break. The equalizer was well-deserved for ‘The Lions’ who dominated the first half, but were impeded by Yemeni goalkeeper Salem Saeed and a couple of offside situations. The same scoreline was applicable for the Yemen game a few days later, when they faced neighbours Saudi Arabia. It was to be a tough game for the ‘The Red Devils’ as they hadn’t won a single game out of their past five meetings with ‘The Green Falcons’, also without scoring a single goal. To further complicate things, the match was played in Bahrain, at the National Stadium, possibly due to the ongoing war in Yemen, in which the Saudis are heavily involved in. I couldn’t find a definitive explanation for this change however. The ‘home team’ then took the lead in eighth minute by arguably the best goal so far in qualifying, a beautiful bicycle kick by Mohsen Qarawi, which just looped over the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper and found the net. It was only Yemens’ second goal ever against the greens of Saudi Arabia in history of any FIFA sanctioned match. After Saudi Arabia equalized in the 22nd minute, Yemen once again retook the lead still in the first half. Early in the second half, Salem Al-Dawsari put away another equalizer, which would turn out to be the final score; 2-2. It was Saudi Arabians second draw of the week after playing 1-1 earlier in the week against African side Mali. Early point drops then for the favourites in this group, but with some tough opposition to face in Palestine and Uzbekistan most notably.
Speaking of those two, they faced each other for their first match on the 5th of September, in Al-Ram, which lies in Palestinian Territory – not officially recognized by all United Nations members – just north of Jerusalem. ‘The Lions of Canaan’ scored twice in the second half to secure a surprising win against the Uzbeks, who are ranked eighteen places above Palestine on the FIFA World Ranking. In their previous three meetings, Uzbekistan also won on all three occasions, without conceding a goal. Palestine were however unable to continue their strong start after traveling to Singapore, who had drawn their match against Yemen. After only three minutes, ‘The Lions’ found their first goal after some poor defending by the possibly jet-lagged Palestinians, which was exploited by Singaporese defender Shakir Hamzah. Despite being overwhelmed in the first stages of the match, Palestine did redeem themselves quickly with a goal by Yaser Hamed in the 13th minute. A close match followed until a header by Safuwan Baharudin from a corner kick. The second half would turn out to be unfriendly, mostly as a result of frustrations from the away side. Although Palestine had the upperhand in the second half, Singapore was able to hold on to their lead, which resulted in a surprising win for the home country; 2-1.
Group D results: 5 sep. Singapore 2-2 Yemen 5 sep. Palestine 2-0 Uzbekistan 10 sep. Singapore 2-1 Palestine 10 sep. Yemen 2-2 Saudi Arabia Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Singapore 2 1-1-0 4-3 +1 4 Palestine 2 1-0-1 3-2 +1 3 Yemen 2 0-2-0 4-4 0 2 Saudi Arabia 1 0-1-0 2-2 0 1 Uzbekistan 1 0-0-1 0-2 -2 0
Group E (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Oman, Qatar)
In Group E, we witnessed the first official FIFA World Cup qualifying by an already qualified team as Qatar faced Afghanistan on the grounds also to be used during the eventual tournament. Although the stadium itself – the 15,000 seater Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha – will not be used itself during the world cup, as many of the actual venues are under construction, it does provide a sense of the vibe of a world cup being hosted in Qatar. The stadium was filled by about 70 percent of its total capacity – commonly by men wearing typically white garb – creating quite an intimate atmosphere as the Qatar national team – who won the Asian Cup earlier this year – trumped the Afghanis quite confidently as The Maroons put six goals away. The goals seemed to come quite easy as the Afghani defense were unable to challenge the Qatari attackers. In the tenth minute Sudanese-born striker Almoez Ali already scored his second goal and he would add a third in the beginning of the second half to complete his hat-trick, which means he now has goalscoring record of exactly 0.5 per game as he has scored 23 goals in 46 matches, only at the age of 23. The score could’ve been much higher hadn’t it been for some great saves made by Ovays Azizi. Still the 6-0 win by Qatar is a great start in preparation for its first world cup appearance to be played in a little over three years in front of the home crowd.
Five days later however, the Qataris disappointed against India, playing in the same arena as the game against Afghanistan, as it turned out to be a goalless affair. Although Qatar were still the dominant side in the game, India did get some chances towards the end of the game to really upset the crowd, but in the end both teams were unable to convert any of their chances. India had lost to Oman about a week earlier in front of a 20,000+ crowd in Guwahati when Oman striker Al-Alawi singlehandedly brought his team back from behind in the final ten minutes of the game by two extraordinary finishes. Especially Al-Alawi’s strike in 89th minute from the edge of the sixteen which ended top corner was beautiful and put the Indians in awe.
Lastly, Afghanistan managed to regain some of its confidence by beating Bangladesh; 1-0. The game was played in Tajikistan in front of a crowd of around 5,000 due to security issues concerning the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The winning goal was scored by former PSV Eindhoven and Dutch youth team player Farshad Noor, who currently plays at Nea Salamis Famagusta in Cyprus.
Group E results: 5 sep. India 1-2 Oman 5 sep. Qatar 6-0 Afghanistan 10 sep. Afghanistan 1-0 Bangladesh 10 sep. Qatar 0-0 India Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Qatar 2 1-1-0 6-0 +6 4 Oman 1 1-0-0 2-1 +1 3 Afghanistan 2 1-0-1 1-6 -5 3 India 2 0-1-1 1-2 -1 1 Bangladesh 1 0-0-1 0-1 -1 0
Group F (Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan)
This group started in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, similarly to the first round qualifiers. Mongolia faced Myanmar, two teams destined to fight for avoiding last place in this group. In this battle, Mongolia now pulls the strings as it was able to put one away whilst conceding no goals; 1-0. The only goal was scored by 18-year old Dölgöön Amaraa as the young defender – a former Puskás academy player – scored his first international goal for Mongolia in only his second performance.
Mongolia faced much tougher competition a few days later when hosting Tajikistan who are expected to battle with bitter rivals Kyrgystan for that second place in the group, which grants access to the next qualifying stages. For that matter, Tajikistan already had taken a great first step when they beat the Kyrgyzstani a few days earlier in front of a electric home crowd of 18,000 people, who saw the winning goal being scored in the 41st minute by former Russian youth international Alisher Dzhalikov who placed the ball in the bottom corner. In their away tie against Mongolia, the single deciding goal fell quite a bit later on in the match, headed in by Tajik defender Davronjon Ergashev in the 81st minute.
It was then the turn of Samurai Blue (Japan) to prove themselves as the favourites to end on top. A tough away match awaited them in Saigon in Myanmar, where the Thuwunna Stadium was nicely filled by more than 25,000 people. In the monsoon rains in Myanmar, Japan intended to finish up shop as soon as possible. A nice shot from the edge of the sixteen by Shoya Nakajima which curled in the far corner, by which the score was opened after only fifteen minutes of play. Ten minutes later, it was Red Bull Salzburg’s striker Takumi Minamino’s turn when he converted a header assisted by new PSV signing Ritsu Doan, who saw his first attempt on goal saved by the Myanma goalkeeper. A few moments later, Myanmar fortunately escaped a third goal when a Japanese header was cleared off the goalline before headed onto the bar by Japanese captain Maya Yoshida. The Samurais seemed satisfied with the first two goals as they played the game out without any more goals being scored during the game.
Group F results: 5 sep. Mongolia 1-0 Myanmar 5 sep. Tajikistan 1-0 Kyrgyzstan 10 sep. Mongolia 0-1 Tajikistan 10 sep. Myanmar 0-2 Japan Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Tajikistan 2 2-0-0 2-0 +2 6 Japan 1 1-0-0 2-0 +2 3 Mongolia 2 1-0-1 1-1 0 3 Kyrgyzstan 1 0-0-1 0-1 -1 0 Myanmar 2 0-0-2 0-3 -3 0
Group G (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam)
Beforehand, one of the most interesting groups, consisting of four South East Asian countries and the United Arab Emirates, who last qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1990 and were the hosts of the AFC Asian Cup in January of this year. The first game, played in Thamassat Stadium on the edge of Bangkok, saw Thailand facing Vietnam. Both teams met just a few months earlier as part of the Kings’ Cup 2019, which was played in Thailand, when the Fire-Drake Warrior (i.e. Vietnam) won 1-0. This day however both teams were unable to score in front of a 20,000 audience. Thailand seemed to create the best chances, especially through number 7, the 21-year old Supachok Sarachat, but remained scoreless nonetheless.
The War Elephants were however able to grab all three points on their away trip to the Gelora Bung Kamo Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, when they easily disposed the Indonesians 3-0. Once again, star of the show was Supachok Sarachat, who managed to score a brace – his first international goals for Thailand – the first one scoring in the 55th minute when it was still even. His strike from just outside the sixteen was well-placed in the bottom corner and left Indonesian goalkeeper Andritani Ardhiyasa. The other goal was scored by Theerathon Bunmathan from the penalty spot. The 77,000 capacity stadium was only filled by about 11,000 spectators, a stark difference compared to a few days earlier when Indonesia faced its neighbouring rivals, the tigers of Malaysia. Played in the same stadium, almost 55,000 people went to see the numbers 160 vs. 159 of the world based on FIFA’s ranking. Arguably the most attractive fixture from this week, the match itself didn’t fail to live up to those expectations.
The home crowd were delighted when Brazilian-born Indonesia striker Beto Gonçalves passed the Malaysian goalkeeper, as the latter only saw the ball in the net after it went through his legs. The equalizer was then scored about ten minutes before halftime after a clean finish again by a foreign-born player, namely the Gambian-born Mohamadou Sumareh. Only two minutes it was the 38-year old striker Beto again who lifted the crowd, now scoring his tenth international goal for Indonesia, after only making his debut less than a year ago. The striker – who spent most of his time in his birthcountry Brazil and current residence Indonesia – has as of now played for merely twenty different clubs, including Penang FA from Malaysia. A header by Syafiq Ahmad again equalized the score in the second half, after a corner for the Tigers wasn’t adequately dealt with by the Red and White’s defense. The home crowd was then left shocked when Sumareh tapped in his second goal in the 96th minute, an incredibly crucial winner for the Malaysians in their qualifying campaign.
Malaysia tried to build upon their great start a few days later when they met with the group’s favourites to go through, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Tigers – playing in their usual black and yellow – got off to a great start by scoring in the first minute, again through a header by Syafiq Ahmad, scoring his second goal during the qualifying campaign. The more than 40,000 spectators were optimistic that Malaysia were to get their second three-pointer until UAE’s Ali Mabkhout who’s looking to become the country’s all time topscorer, as he also scored the second and deciding goal today and now just needs one goal to tie with Adnan Al Talyani – who retired from international football in 1997. He does have to keep his fellow striking partner Ahmed Khalil from scoring as they now both have 51 goals on their tally. Although Malaysia’s late loss was disappointing, which was the same result as when they met for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers back in 2015, it was nowhere as demoralizing as the 10-0 defeat to UAE earlier during that campaign when played in the Arab nation, when the Mabkhout-Khalil strike force was responsible of seven of those goals.
Group G results: 5 sep. Thailand 0-0 Vietnam 5 sep. Indonesia 2-3 Malaysia 10 sep. Indonesia 0-3 Thailand 10 sep. Malaysia 1-2 UAE Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS Thailand 2 1-1-0 3-0 +3 4 UAE 1 1-0-0 2-1 +1 3 Malaysia 2 1-0-1 4-4 0 3 Vietnam 1 0-1-0 0-0 0 1 Indonesia 2 0-0-2 2-6 -4 0
Group H (Lebanon, North Korea, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turmenistan)
In Group H, where most of the attention naturally draws towards the Korean rivalry, the North Koreans were the first side to kick off against Lebanon. In a packed Kim-Il Sung Stadium in Pyeongyang (40,000 were in attendance), it was Korean striker Jong-Il Kwan, currently unattached to any club, but one of few North Koreans to have played outside the country, having played at FC Luzern and FC Wil in Switzerland, managed to make the difference by scoring two goals and leading his country to its first win. His second goal was an thundering strike in the top corner, which left the Lebanese goalkeeper absolutely without a chance to save it. North Korea then took on the island nation of Sri Lanka, who are ranked lowest of the current nations to be part of the group stages (200th). Sri Lanka’s qualification for the second round was entangled with quite some controversy featuring its opponent, Macau, in the preliminary qualifying round refusing to travel to Sri Lanka due to recent terrorist activity. FIFA eventually responded by expelling Macau, who had won their first tie of the two-legged affair, leading to automatic qualification of Sri Lanka. North Korea struggled to find the winner, but eventually did score just the one goal in the 67th minute by centre-back Jang Kuk-chol.
It was Sri Lanka’s second hosting during the group stages, as they faced Turkmenistan a few days before. The Turkmeni’s had less trouble with the Golden Lion as they managed to score their first goal already in the 8th minute by Wahit Orazsähedow. A later goal by Arslanmyrat Amanow – who plays for the largest club in Turkmeni football in Lokomotiv Tashkent – sealed the deal and left Sri Lanka after two games – both played in front of a mere 1,000 crowd – pointless and goalless. They’ll have to face some tough challenges when they’ll be traveling away to the big guns in the group. It was then Turkmenistan’s turn to start the qualifying campaign for South Korea. Obvious favourites to win the group, The Karakum Warriors playing in front of a 26,000 crowd in Köpetdag Stadium in Ashgabat, couldn’t pose a real threat for the South Koreans – captained by Son Heung-min as it ended 0-2. The goalscorers were Na Sang-ho and Jung Woo-young – the latter playing at Al-Sadd in the future World Cup hosting country of Qatar.
Group H results: 5 sep. North Korea 2-0 Lebanon 5 sep. Sri Lanka 0-2 Turkmenistan 10 sep. Turkmenistan 0-2 South Korea 10 sep. Sri Lanka 0-1 North Korea Standings: Team GP W-D-L GF-GA GD PTS North Korea 2 2-0-0 3-0 +3 6 South Korea 1 1-0-0 2-0 +2 3 Turkmenistan 2 1-0-1 2-2 0 3 Lebanon 1 0-0-1 0-2 -2 0 Sri Lanka 2 0-0-2 0-3 -3 0
So that’s it, the first 32 matches of the group stages have been played and no big surprises as of yet I would say. I’m posting this about a month late due to the amount of matches to cover and busyness in life, but I’ll try to update the blog sooner in the future. The third and fourth matchdays has also already taken place last week. I’ll move the discussion on Africa’s qualification towards early next year until the full qualification – the group stages – will get underway. Until then, I’ll mostly focus on Asian football. So thanks for your patience and thanks for reading my posts 😉
FIFA World Cup 2022 - The Whole Journey 