We note the 11th of June as the day of the second leg matches for the first round of the AFC Qualifiers, which determines the six teams that will join the other AFC members for the group stages in the second round.
One spot will remain open however for an unknown length of time after Macau withdrew from the match against Sri Lanka – after having a 1-0 advantage from the first leg which marked the first ever FIFA qualifier win by the Greens after gaining admission to FIFA for the 1994 qualifying campaign – as the Macau FA decided not to send their players to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, stating on social media that “Due to the recent terrorist attack in Sri Lanka and for the sake of the team’s personal safety, we have been in contact with FIFA, AFC and Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) to discuss and negotiate that this match to be played in neutral country. MFA will have to put our players’ personal safety as a priority. And, in the view of the fact that we cannot guarantee the safety of the team while they are in Sri Lanka and we cannot afford to take the risk to put our players’ lives in danger.”
At current time, it’s unknown whether the match will be played in a different location or a neutral venue as the Macau FA had suggested or that one of the teams will be punished for their actions. But the issue should soon to be resolved as the draw for the second round will take place at the 17th of July.
Another match that revolved around issues was the return match between Pakistan and Cambodia, that played out in the Hamid bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar due to internal issues in the Pakistan Football Federation. Although taking place in the host country of the World Cup, the specific stadium will not be a venue during the main event, as it only holds a capacity of 12,000, way below the standards of 40,000 that FIFA poses to World Cup hosts. Already having to overcome a 2-0 defeat, Pakistan thus played in a location where they were not accustomed to. However they took the lead in the 18th minute when – Copenhagen born – Hassan Bashir tucked away a penalty, given after a handball, in front of a crowd of a mere 300 at 36 degrees celsius. Cambodia – nicknamed the ‘Angkor Warriors’ – put up a better performance in the second half and retained the lead after goals by Rosib and Bunheing leading them to a 4-1 win on aggregate and their second qualification for the second round in history.
However the main story would come from the small island nation of Guam – an overseas territory of the Unites States – where their national team played against Bhutan, who came into the match defending a 1-0 lead. It soon became clear that Bhutan – the ‘Dragon Boys’ – without their home advantage, was no match for the unleashed Matao who put five away in front of 1,000 supporters. After 27 minutes into the match, Guam were already on their way to the second round after a 2-0 advantage and were never put in doubt by the Bhutanese as Guam all-time topscorer Jason Cunliffe managed to complete a hattrick in the final seconds of the game. Although Bhutan ranks a few places higher on the FIFA World Ranking than Guam, a 5-1 win on aggregate gives Guamanians are going to the second round for the second time in history, after an impressive run for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in which they managed to beat India and Turkmenistan.
The most tension was probably to be found in Bandar Seri Begawan – the capital city of Brunei Darussalam – where Brunei was almost able to overcome the 2-0 deficit against Mongolia from last week. Both in the 4th and 34th minute, more than 17,000 Bruneians got on their feet to celebrate a goal, as on both occasions Razimie Ramlli was able to profit from poorly handled free-kicks by Mongolian goalkeeper Saikhanchuluun Amarbayasgaslan, which meant that both teams were equal on aggregate. Early second half however Mongolian captain Norjmoogiin Tsedenbal was managed to convert a penalty. The second goal by the defender – after also scoring in the home match – left the Bruneians to a difficult task to score two to qualify for the second round, which didn’t happen. This has meant that the ‘Blue Wolves’ have managed to get into the group stages of the second round for the first time ever since taking in FIFA qualifiers in 2001.
Elsewhere in Asia, Bangladesh was able to manage their 1-0 lead to Laos from the first leg, as the game ended in a goalless draw in front of their home crowd of around 7,500. The home side even created the greatest chances to win the game and extend their lead over two legs, but the 0-0 turned out to be enough for the Bengal Tiger to qualify for the second round. Toward the south-eastern edge of the Asian continent, Malaysia played out their qualifying match against Timor-Leste after already beating them at home in Kuala Lumpur by 7-1. Also on this day, the ‘Malayan Tigers’ had little problems with the former Portuguese colony, as they managed to win by a fine margin of four: 1-5. The score could have been higher as both sides failed to score a penalty, after Malaysia had already missed one during the first match. Through a hattrick Shahrel Fikri, he is now considered as the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign, after he also scored a goal in the first leg.
Results of today (11 June 2019)
AFC Qualifiers - First Round: Second legs Brunei 2-1 Mongolia (2-3 agg.) Sri Lanka (cancelled) Macau (0-1 agg.) Bangladesh 0-0 Laos (1-0 agg.) Timor-Leste 1-5 Malaysia (2-12 agg.) Pakistan 1-2 Cambodia (1-4 agg.) Guam 5-0 Bhutan (5-1 agg.)
FIFA World Cup 2022 - The Whole Journey 