Indonesia will finally make their World Cup debut when they play their home leg on November 9, 2007. The second legs are to take place on November 18, 2007.Seeding of second round teams:
12. Syria
13. Thailand
14. Turkmenistan
15. Tajikistan
16. Indonesia
17. Hong Kong
18. Yemen
19. Singapore
The numbers are the teams' current ELO ratings. All match times are local.
November 9, 2007
112 Tajikistan at 126 Singapore 7:30 PM Singapore
90 Syria at 129 Indonesia 7 PM Jakarta
104 Thailand at 153 Yemen 4:15 PM Şan‘ā’
November 10, 2007
115 Turkmenistan at 147 Hong Kong 4 PM Hong Kong
November 18, 2007
Singapore at Tajikistan 1 PM Dushanbe
Indonesia at Syria 2 PM Damascus
Yemen at Thailand 7:30 PM Bangkok
Hong Kong at Turkmenistan 6 PM Ashgabat
It seems as though all four higher seeds will advance through these ties and into round three, although Singapore will prove to be a tough test for Tajikistan.
Also, third-round qualifier Kuwait have been suspended from international competition by FIFA due to the government meddling into the country's soccer affairs. This could cause Kuwait to forfeit their place in World Cup.
After being washed out in Chennai two days prior, the two teams met in Goa to decide their World Cup fates. It looked plausible for India to close the three-goal gap early on as they struck within the first half hour. Unfortunately for them, things were no better by the seventy-first minute. Here, disaster struck as their goalkeeper Subrata Paul took a red card. After his substitute came in, the Lebanese buried a penalty kick and with a subsequent goal buried India. Lebanon advance to round three. All eleven of the highest seeds won their first-round ties.
Jordan avoided the biggest first-round upset that any Asian team would have suffered. The Jordanians pushed one across in the first half at home in Ammān. They struck again in the second half and took the game into extra time. The aggregate remained tied at two after extra time, so the two teams went into extra time to keep their World Cup dreams alive. With the support of the home crowd, Jordan won the shootout 6-5 and move on to Asia's third round of qualifiers.
In the return leg between Bahrain and Malaysia, things got feisty early on. Both teams had a player ejected in the 12th minute. Bahrain lost Abdulrahman and Malaysia lost Zafuan Abd Radzak. Despite this initial wackiness, the games itself was devoid of action, resulting in a scoreless draw and the advancement of Bahrain to round three.
In the first match of fifteen today, Hong Kong put away East Timor for good with a massive stomping at home, 8-1, although the lead was just 2-0 at the half. Hong Kong win the aggregate 11-3 and advance to the second round.
Afghanistan were down three goals coming into the match. Still, a goal early on gave the Afghans hope to come back. Unfotunately for them, the Syrians netted a goal a mere one minute later and then went on to win the contest outright in the second half with a second goal. The final aggregate score was 5-1. Syria need only one of the top eleven seeds to lose in order to gain a bye to the third round.
In the first of the five matches, the North Koreans took a 3-0 halftime lead in Mongolia before coasting to a 4-1 aggregate lead.
In a humongous upset, the Kyrgyz were able to overthrow the Jordanians with a 2-0 victory at home. With a goal scored just before the half, the Kyrgyz continued the charge with a second-half goal that essentially sealed the game. With the all-important shutout, Kyrgyzstan need only a two-goal loss with one goal scored (such as 1-3 or 2-4) to advance into the second round of Asian qualifying. Jordan, at number eleven, are the highest seed so far to suffer a loss in Asian qualifying.
In the first CONMEBOL qualifier of the day, Colombia garnered only one disappointing point from their match in Bolivia. The scoreless draw gives Bolivia their first point and Colombia their second. Bolivia had a much stronger attack going, putting five shots on goal to Colombia's two, but a red card to Leonel Reyes in the 69th minutes shut down the Bolivian offense.
In the day's first matchup, the New Zealanders put the controversy of the last week behind them as they shutout the Fijians in Lautoka, 2-0. They scored once in the first half but almost saw their lead vanish when the tournament's top scorer Vakatalesau hit the crossbar. Smeltz buried two goals in the second half off of headers, but both were disallowed due to offsides violations. He broke through onside with under five minutes to go to complete the tally. Both teams' next games are on November 17th.
In a match that proved their superiority, the Argentines defeated the Venezuelans on the road convincingly. The Argentine defense was in shutout form the entire game, except for the first ten minutes of the second half. Still, they pitched a shutout and could have won by four goals or more had Messi taken it upon himself to shoot the ball more often when he had open looks. Messi's unselfishness cost his team somewhere between one and three goals on the night. Still, it did not matter as the Argentines cemented their place at the top of the South American group table. Both teams resume play on November 17th.
Thailand completed its mauling of Macau on Monday with a 7-1 road victory. They won the first half 3-0 and then coasted to the finish with a 13-2 aggregate victory. Thailand will have to have three of the top eleven Asian seeds lose in order to get a bye to the third round.
Madagascar opened the two-game slate for World Cup qualifying today with a high-scoring win over neighboring Comoros. Down a goal within the first ten minutes, Madagascar fought to a 2-1 lead at the half. They went on to win the second half as well, using their 4-1 second half advantage to push the final score to 6-2. The teams travel to Comoros for the second leg on November 17th.
Venezuela became the first country to win a road match in Quito in over six years with a stunning 1-0 victory over Ecuador. Ecuador had gone undefeated at home in its previous qualifying campaign and had defeated Venezuela 2-0 in each of the last two qualifcation cycles. That all changed with one 45-yard blast off of a free kick by a Venezuelan defender, José Manuel Rey. It was the first time that Venezuela had ever scored a goal in Ecuador during World Cup qualifying, and it was also the first time that Venezuela had not lost its qualifying opener. Ecuador will try again on the 17th. Venezuela plays on the 16th against Argentina.
Uzbekistan smashed Taiwan in the first of their two meetings this month, with a hat-trick scored by Shatskykh within the first 35 minutes. They won in shutout form, 9-0. The return leg will be on October 28th. Taiwan will be hosting the Uzbeks in the second match.
The New Zealand government refused to grant a visa to Fijian goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau. FIFA postponed the October 13 meeting between the two sides, deeming that it would have been unfair to make the two countries play each other when one team was forced to play without a full squad.
Turkmenistan scored the only goal in today's lone World Cup 2010 qualifier. As visitors to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Turkemistan held tough until the final five minutes of the match when they finally broke the scoreless tie. Turkmenistan will be looking to advance to the second round of Asian qualifying because they are most likely not going to be one of the top eleven seeds to progress. They simply need a tie in their home match against Cambodia to advance. The second leg takes place on October 28.
In the most highly anticipated of the day's matchups, UAE took a victory on the road in Vietnam and, more importantly, now own an advantage in the aggregate score before going home to face Vietnam in Abu Dhabi on October 28. The lone goal came just eleven minutes before time was called.
