HONG KONG : India’s Sunil Chhetri scored twice to make a selection his global tally to 82 dreams in a 2-0 bewitch over Cambodia on Wednesday in Kolkata as Igor Stimac’s facet made a successful delivery to the third round of qualifying for next yr’s Asian Cup.
The 37-yr-worn India captain struck from the penalty place of dwelling within the 13th minute outdated to powering a header past Cambodian goalkeeper Hul Kimhuy 14 minutes after the restart to present his team a successful delivery in Neighborhood D.
The neighborhood hosts sit level on three capabilities with Hong Kong following the first round of suits as Jorn Andersen’s team held on to bewitch 2-1 against Afghanistan.
Ideal the winners of every and each of the six groups within the third round are guaranteed to arrive to the finals next yr, the place they’ll be joined by the five runners-up with the staunch files.
In Neighborhood B, Oday Dabbagh’s penalty five minutes from time earned Palestine a 1-0 bewitch over Mongolia to place them on top of the early standings after the Philippines and Yemen shared a 0-0 design.
Uzbekistan, Asian Cup semi-finalists in 2011, cruised to a 3-0 victory over Sri Lanka in their opening game in Neighborhood C to be a part of Thailand, who defeated the Maldives 3-0, on three capabilities on the head of the table.
Malaysia picked up a surprise 3-1 bewitch over 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers Turkmenistan in Kuala Lumpur to sit down on top of Neighborhood E on aim disagreement from Bahrain, who earned a 2-0 victory against Bangladesh.
Shervoni Mabatshoyev scored twice as Tajikistan secured a gay 4-0 bewitch against Myanmar in Neighborhood F whereas Singapore slipped to a 2-1 loss against Kyrgyzstan despite taking the lead through Tune Ui-young.
Valeri Kichin levelled for Aleksandr Krestinin’s facet from the penalty place of dwelling with 13 minutes supreme and, five minutes later, Viktor Maier earned the capabilities for the central Asian nation.
Twenty-four groups will play in next yr’s match, with the 12 nations that certified for the supreme round of Asia’s preliminaries for the World Cup already securing their areas on the finals.
A brand unusual venue for the competition has yet to be optimistic after China withdrew from net hosting the match attributable to the country’s ongoing pursuit of a 0-COVID strategy.
