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Asia and Americas start road to WC '06
first matches of Asia's road to the world cup kicked off alongside the first stage for the smaller island nations of the CONCACAF region this week. And while most big names won, some of them struggled to get their points.
Japan hosted Oman and got away with a last minute goal to secure the three points in a 1-0 win. Kubo's strike coming in the second minute of injury time.
China too scraped home with a 1-0 win over Kuwait. Hopeing to qualify for a second world cup, China's Hao gave them a 15th minute lead before shutting out the game.
Korea Republic came away with a more convincing win however, 2-0 the final result against Lebanon. D. Cha and B Cho the providers on 33 and 51 minutes respectively.
Saudi Arabia managed a 3-0 rout of Indonesia, Al Shahrani managing a brace (4' and 39') while Al Kahtani sealed the win on half time.
Other AFC results (All winners at home unless otherwise indicated): UAE 1-0 over Thailand. Iran 3-1 over Qatar. Tajikistan 2-1 over Krygzstan in Krygzstan. Hong Kong 3-1 over Malaysia in Malaysia. Turkmenistan 2-0 over Sri Lanka. India 1-0 over Singapore. Bahrain 2-1 over Syria. Jordan 5-0 over Laos. Palestine 8-0 over Chinese Taipei. Vietman 4-0 over Maldives Republic. Yemen 1-1 with Korea DPR (in Yemen). Uzbekistan 1-1 with Iraq (in Uzbekistan),
CONCACAF has already seen it's first team eliminated as Haiti over ran Turks and Caicos Islands 7-0 on aggrigate. After taking a lead, Johnny Descollines scored a hat-trick in seven minutes, over the half time break. It was sealed to make a 5-0 first leg win for haiti. The second leg was a formality, 2-0 to Haiti. The 203rd ranked nation was the first to tumble from the world cup in CONCACAF.
St. Kits and Nevis scored a 4-0 win over US Virgin Islands away from home while Antigua & Barbuda scored a 2-0 win over Netherland Antilles.
Overnight Cuba managed a 2-1 win after managing an 89th minute goal to knock over the Cayman Islands. The Caymans had a man sent off but Cuba kept it till the end to secure victory. it's the third successive time Cuba and the Caymans have been drawn together in world cup qualifying.
In a second tight match for the day, British Virgin Islands went down at home to St. Lucia 1-0. Thomas Elva scoring the decisive goal to give St. Lucia the invaluable away goal and a lead going into the next match.
The next scheduled matches are set for the 28th of February where Grenada hosts Guyana and Surinam visits Aruba. The 29th of February sees 204th ranked Monserrat visit Bermuda. Monserrat are the lowest ranked football side in FIFA's ranking and even scoring a goal would more than likely be enough to lift them off the bottom here. As much incentive as any for them right there.
24 February, 2004 |
