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Singapore trounce Palestine, big wins for Lebanon, Syria |
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Written by News Editor
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Tuesday, 09 October 2007 |
Lebanon news, Lebanese radio
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BANGKOK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Singapore had one foot in the second round of Asia's 2010 World Cup qualifying after romping to a 4-0 win away to Palestine on Monday.
Lebanon took a sizable advantage into the second leg after beating India 4-1 but Syria left it late to seal their victory over war-ravaged Afghanistan, scoring all their goals in the final 17 minutes to win 3-0.
Playing in Doha because of the volatile security situation in Palestine, Singapore's Shi Jiayi scored a goal either side of halftime to give the city-state a clear lead.
John Wilkinson added a third for the Southeast Asian champions on 73 minutes before prolific frontman Noh Alam Shah capped off the victory in Qatar with an 86th-minute strike.
"It was a good result," Singapore's Serbian coach Radojko Avramovic said. "It was good to see all the things we tried out at training finally coming off."
Yemen beat the Maldives 3-0 but Asian Cup qualifiers Oman were not so convincing, taking only a two-goal advantage into the second leg away to lowly Nepal, who are ranked 106 places below them.
SHOCK LEAD
India took a shock lead against Lebanon on 30 minutes through Sunil Chhetri but Roda Antar levelled the score five minutes later to give the hosts the momentum.
Mohamad Ghadar scored a second half brace and Mahmoud El Ali added another to complete the rout.
In earlier matches, Thailand made an ideal start to their campaign with a stylish 6-1 thumping of strugglers Macau, with returning forward Surayuth Chaikamdee -- who was dropped for the Asian Cup -- grabbing two goals.
Asian Cup quarter-finalists Vietnam were made to rue their misfiring in front of goal after losing 1-0 at home to the Gulf champions United Arab Emirates and Tajikistan scored a second-half equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw away to Bangladesh.
Forty-three Asian countries are vying for four places in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
An additional berth in the 32-team finals is up for grabs for the fifth-placed Asian team if they can beat the winner of Oceania's qualifiers in a playoff. |
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