Tuesday 11 June 2019, 17:07

Quintet through as Mongolia make history

  • Five teams progress to the second round

  • Mongolia seal maiden progression

  • Sri Lanka-Macau match cancelled

The curtain was brought down on Asia's first round of qualifying for Qatar 2022 on Tuesday, with five teams prevailing over two legs to progress to the next stage.

Of the six teams that won their first leg ties, four - namely Malaysia, Mongolia, Cambodia and Bangladesh – secured the necessary results to advance. Mongolia, meanwhile, made history by reaching the second stage for the first time.

Guam, for their part, overcame a 1-0 first-leg away loss in Bhutan by scoring five unanswered goals to progress in style. FIFA.com rounds up the action.

The match

Guam 5-0 Bhutan

Captain Jason Cunliffe scored a hat-trick as hosts Guam stunned Bhutan. The emphatic win saw Karl Dodd's side prevail 5-1 on aggregate and seal their place in the next round.

Isiah Lagutang opened the scoring on 23 minutes to draw the aggregate scoreline level, before Cunliffe put the hosts ahead four minutes later. After Shane Malcolm made it 3-0 after the restart, the team’s on-song skipper added a fourth eight minutes from time before sealing the triumph with an injury-time strike.

The other attractions

Having struck their opener in the 2-0 first-leg victory over Brunei Darussalam, Mongolia captain Tsedenbal Norjmoo was again the hero, scoring the goal that took their through for the first time.

A Razimie Ramlli brace in the first half saw hosts Brunei draw the aggregate scoreline level. With so much at stake, however, Tsedenbal rose to the occasion by restoring their aggregate lead with a spot-kick after the restart. The game ended in 2-1 in favour of Brunei but Mongolia advanced 3-2 on aggregate.

Having thumped Timor-Leste 7-1 at home in the first leg, Malaysia continued their scoring spree by recording another resounding victory. Shahrel Fikri completed a hat-trick and Mohamadou Sumareh and Akhyar Rashid were also on target as the Harimau Malaya raced into a five-goal lead, leaving Rufino Gama's late goal for the hosts as a mere consolation.

In Doha, meanwhile, a 2-1 comeback victory over Pakistan saw Cambodia triumph 4-1 on aggregate. Keo Sokpheng struck on 64 minutes to cancel out Hassan Bashir's early goal before Roeung Bunheang sealed the victory for the Southeast Asians.

Elsewhere, a goalless draw against Laos at home was enough to see Jamie Day's Bangladesh through to the second round.

Did you know?

Having never qualified for the second stage of FIFA World Cup qualifying before Russia 2018, Guam and Cambodia have now done so for the second successive edition.

Second leg results

11 June

Timor-Leste 1-5 Malaysia (Agg. 2-12) Guam 5-0 Bhutan (Agg. 5-1) Brunei Darussalam 2-1 Mongolia (Agg. 2-3) Bangladesh 0-0 Laos (Agg. 1-0) Pakistan 1-2 Cambodia (Agg. 1-4) *Sri Lanka-Macau

*The Macau Football Association informed AFC that their team would not travel to Sri Lanka for the second leg. The AFC will refer this matter to FIFA and the appropriate AFC committees.