Round One Draw for Africa

We will get to see how worthy South Africa are of hosting the World Cup by their results in the first round of qualifying against mighty Nigeria. Three of the top four African seeds (Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco) are looking to validate their rankings by qualifying for the World Cup finals after missing out in 2006. Togo and Angola are looking to prove that they were no flukes last qualification cycle by marching into South Africa 2010. A * denotes a Germany 2006 participant. A # signifies a Ghana 2008 qualifier. The numbers are the teams' current ELO ratings.

Group A:
34 Cameroon #
131 Cape Verde
120 Tanzania
159 Mauritius

Group B:
55 Guinea #
90 Zimbabwe
139 Namibia #
118 Kenya

Group C:
72 Angola *#
113 Benin #
102 Uganda
128 Niger

Group D:
30 Nigeria #
82 South Africa #
143 Equatorial Guinea
142 Sierra Leone

Group E:
27 Ghana *#
89 Libya
97 Gabon
170 Lesotho

Group F:
57 Sénégal #
103 Algeria
147 Liberia
119 Gambia

Group G:
21 Côte d'Ivoire *#
116 Mozambique
130 Botswana
145 Madagascar

Group H:
40 Morocco #
121 Ethiopia
131 Rwanda
147 Mauritania

Group I:
48 Tunisia *#
115 Burkina Faso
140 Burundi
176 Seychelles

Group J:
59 Mali #
100 Congo
99 Sudan #
138 Chad

Group K:
101 Togo *
63 Zambia #
161 Eritrea
168 Swaziland

Group L:
41 Egypt #
91 Democratic Republic of the Congo
134 Malawi
208 Djibouti

For the group winners, I have Cameroon, Guinea, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Sénégal, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Zambia, and Egypt. I think that Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Benin, South Africa, Libya, Algeria, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Togo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will take second place. Eight of the twelve second-place finishers will advance to CAF round two.

UEFA Preliminary Draw

England just cannot catch a break. Less than one week after being eliminated by Croatia from Euro2008, the two foes are drawn against each other again. Denmark and Sweden are also drawn together again, giving the Danish fans a chance to redeem themselves as a civilized audience. The toughest groups appear to be Groups A, C, F, and G. A * denotes a Germany 2006 particapant and a # represents a Euro2008 qualifier.

Group A:
13 Portugal *#
22 Sweden *#
19 Denmark
69 Hungary
93 Albania
153 Malta

Group B: 16 Greece #
37 Israel
18 Switzerland *#
87 Moldova
91 Latvia
183 Luxembourg

Group C:
7 Czech Republic *#
26 Poland *#
67 Northern Ireland
49 Slovakia
77 Slovenia
195 San Marino

Group D:
7 Germany *#
24 Russia #
43 Finland
56 Wales
122 Azerbaijan
167 Liechtenstein

Group E:
5 Spain *#
17 Turkey #
52 Belgium
76 Bosnia and Herzegovina
104 Armenia
109 Estonia

Group F:
11 Croatia *#
9 England *
39 Ukraine *
73 Belarus
117 Kazakhstan
180 Andorra

Group G:
4 France *#
10 Romania #
35 Serbia *
65 Lithuania
60 Austria #
171 Faroe Islands

Group H:
2 Italy *#
25 Bulgaria
32 Ireland
79 Cyprus
78 Georgia
58 Montenegro

Group I:
6 Netherlands *#
33 Scotland
31 Norway
75 Macedonia
106 Iceland

My predictions for the group winners are Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, England, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. For the second positions, I foresee Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Scotland. Russia, Turkey, and Bulgaria will take advantage of easier groups to snag second-place finishes, whereas Denmark, Ukraine, and Serbia fall victim to tougher draws.

The top eight of nine second-place finishers will be decided by their point totals against the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th-place finishers in their respective groups.

CONCACAF Preliminary Draw

The top seeds in each group are the United States of America, México, and Costa Rica. The second seeds in each group are Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, and Panamá. The other seeded teams were Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica, Canada, Guyana, and Haiti. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines received a first-round bye. Note that Guadeloupe are not members of FIFA and therefore cannot participate in the World Cup despite their semifinal appearance at the 2007 Gold Cup.

The team listed first is the home team for the first match of the two-legged playoff. The numbers are the teams' current ELO ratings.

Group A:
185 Dominica vs. 133 Barbados
28 United States of America vs. Winner

214 Turks and Caicos Islands vs. 162 St. Lucia
81 Guatemala vs. Winner

166 Bermuda vs. 187 Cayman Islands
84 Trinidad and Tobago vs. Winner

193 Aruba vs. 177 Antigua and Barbuda
Winner vs. 85 Cuba

Group B:
189 Belize vs. 150 St. Kitts and Nevis
Winner vs. 12 México

198 Bahamas vs. 191 British Virgin Islands
67 Jamaica vs. Winner

174 Dominican Republic vs. 197 Puerto Rico
46 Honduras vs. Winner

54 Canada vs. 128 St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Group C:
215 U.S. Virgin Islands vs. 162 Grenada
Winner vs. 50 Costa Rica

147 Suriname vs. 219 Montserrat
Winner vs. 125 Guyana

112 El Salvador vs. 219 Anguilla
65 Panamá vs. Winner

179 Nicaragua vs. 173 Netherlands Antilles
71 Haiti vs. Winner

I see the teams with byes to round two all coming through to round three, although Panamá vs. El Salvador and Haiti vs. Nicaragua will be great ties. I also see Canada coming through against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I picked the top twelve seeds to advance to the final twelve, so we'll see how many upsets disprove my predictions.

AFC Round Three Draw

Australia were the top seed coming into the draw, but they left with the toughest group of any of the top five Asian countries. Group E will certainly put southwest Asian braggin rights on the line and will have the least travel time required for its contestants. South Korea appear to have been given the easiest route to round four, but none of these labels matter once the games begin.

The numbers are the teams' current ELO ratings.

Group A:
36 Australia
62 China
51 Iraq
88 Qatar

Group B:
23 Japan
96 Bahrain
70 Oman
105 Thailand

Group C:
47 South Korea
82 North Korea
86 Jordan
111 Turkmenistan

Group D:
42 Saudi Arabia
61 Uzbekistan
123 Lebanon
114 Singapore

Group E:
28 Iran
94 Kuwait
97 United Arab Emirates
80 Syria

Who do I believe will come through? Australia and Iraq, Japan and Oman, South Korea and North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, and Iran and the United Arab Emirates are my picks.

Round three match days:
February 6, 2008
March 26, 2008
August 20, 2008
October 11, 2008
October 15, 2008
November 19, 2008

CAF Pots Announced

The pots for the first round of African qualifying are set. There will be four pots. The 48 teams will be drawn into twelve separate groups of four, with the twelve group winners advancing along with the eight best second-place finishers to round two. The draw will be performed this Sunday.

Pot A:
Cameroon
Nigeria
Côte d'Ivoire
Morocco
Ghana
Tunisia
Egypt
Guinea
Sénégal
Mali
Angola
Togo

Pot B:
Zambia
South Africa (automatic qualifiers)
Cape Verde
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Benin
Mozambique
Libya
Ethiopia
Congo
Zimbabwe

Pot C:
Uganda
Botswana
Equatorial Guinea
Tanzania
Gabon
Malawi
Sudan
Burundi
Liberia
Rwanda
Eritrea
Namibia

Pot D:
Gambia
Mauritania
Kenya
Chad
Lesotho
Mauritius
Niger
Swaziland
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Madagascar
Djibouti

UEFA Pots Announced

The European pots were finalized today after the final round of qualifying for Euro2008 was played. The seedings were based on the new November 2007 FIFA rankings. England's final day loss to Croatia in UEFA Euro2008 qualifying relegates them to Pot B while Greece moves up to Pot A.

There will be eight groups of six teams and one group of five teams. This is because there will be one less team in Pot F than in the other pots.

Pot A:
Italy
Spain
Germany
Czech Republic
France
Portugal
Netherlands
Croatia
Greece

Pot B:
England
Romania
Scotland
Turkey
Bulgaria
Russia
Poland
Sweden
Israel

Pot C:
Norway
Ukraine
Serbia
Denmark
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Finland
Switzerland
Belgium

Pot D:
Slovakia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hungary
Moldova
Wales
Macedonia
Belarus
Lithuania
Cyprus

Pot E:
Georgia
Albania
Slovenia
Latvia
Iceland
Armenia
Austria
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan

Pot F:
Liechtenstein
Estonia
Malta
Luxembourg
Montenegro
Andorra
Faroe Islands
San Marino

The draw will be performed on Sunday. The nine group winners advance to South Africa and the best eight second-place teams will advance to the UEFA playoff round. Four more teams will then advance to South Africa. Qualifying will not begin until after Euro2008 is completed.

Brazil 2 - Uruguay 1; Paraguay and Ecuador win big

Ecuador had suffered through a stretch of three losses to begin its qualifying campaign. Perú's Vílchez was removed after ten minutes due to an injury. That, coupled with Ecuador's return to home in Quito inspired the Ecuadorians to turn around its fortunes. The Ecuadorians outshot their opponents twelve to one on route to taking a 3-0 halftime lead and a 5-0 late in the second half. Perú did manage to lead the yellow card category with four and pulled back a consolation goal to make the score final 5-1.

Brazil, despite being outshot at home eleven to four by visiting Uruguay and despite falling behind by a goal early, Brazil were able to pull even by the half. In fact, Brazil pulled out a 2-1 win. Uruguay drew four yellow cards. The difference was Dunga's decision to start Fabiano in place of Vágner Love. Dunga spoke about his choice. "He's different from Vágner, he's stronger and leads the line very well. He played a good game. Football is about the moment and he came in and took his chance." Uruguayan defender Lugano also spoke after the game. "We played better over the 90 minutes but we lacked experience to kill off the game. It's very difficult with all the forwards that Brazil have."

Paraguay gained an important three points on the road by beating Chile 3-0 in Santiago. Paraguay jumped to the top of the South American qualifying table with the victory. They managed to do this despite drawing (you guessed it) four yellow cards.

CONMEBOL qualifying resumes in June 2008. Current ELO ratings are given before the name of the country. The current point totals are in bold.

14 Paraguay 10
3 Argentina 9
1 Brazil 8
15 Colombia 8
44 Venezuela 6
19 Uruguay 4
38 Chile 4
45 Ecuador 3
53 Perú 2
73 Bolivia 1

If the World Cup qualifiers were to end today, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia would be celebrating and Venezuela would be sweating out a playoff with a CONCACAF team.

Goals scored:
Ecuador: Ayovi 10, 48; Kaviedes 24; E. Méndez 44, 62

Perú: A. Mendoza 86

Brazil: Fabiano 44, 65

Uruguay: Abreu 8

Paraguay: Cabañas 23; da Silva 45+1, 56

New Zealand and New Caledonia romp

New Zealand looked to distance themselves from the rest of their group by adding another three points to their haul with a win at home against Vanautu. They did just that, taking a 3-0 lead into the half and finishing with a 4-1 win at the final whistle. Unfortunately, the New Zealand captain Tim Brown picked up a second yellow card in second half stoppage time and was sent off the pitch. He will be inelgible for New Zealand's next qualifier. They will still have Shane Smeltz, who with four goals in three games is the top scorer in Oceania's second round of qualifying.

“We missed too many chances against New Caledonia on Saturday when we were 2-0 up. If we had converted some easy chances to make it 3-0, 4-0, then the game was over. New Caledonia will be a much tougher prospect today if Pierre Wajoka is selected. Wajoka is a very good player and very professional but we will see what happens,” said Juan Buzzetti, coach of Fiji.

His New Caledonian counterpart Didier Chambaron also spoke before the match. “The first match with Fiji was very difficult. We have a healthy respect for Fiji and we must remain humble. The challenge is to get morale and motivation in our camp high again. We will have to use our speed and pace out wide to greater effect than we did in Fiji.”

New Caledonia took their overall record against Fiji in 2010 qualifying to 2-0-2 with a four-goal shutout victory at home. It was their first appearance at home, and the return of Pierre Wajoka coupled with the absence of Fijian Peni Finau allowed for a comfortable victory. New Caledonia knocked home two goals in each half.

OFC qualifying resumes in June 2008. The current point totals are as follows: New Zealand 9, New Caledonia 4, Fiji 1, Vanuatu 0. It seems as though the two matches between New Zealand and New Caledonia in September 2008 will decide the OFC champion.

Goals scored:
New Zealand: Mulligan 14, 81; Smeltz 29 PK, 34

Vanuatu: Sakama 50

New Caledonia: Wajoka 28; Hmae 31, 60; Mapou 63

Venezuela 5 - Bolivia 3; Colombia 2 - Argentina 1

In perhaps the most back-and-forth affair of World Cup qualifying so far, Venezuela came back from being one goal down three times to obtain a home victory against Bolivia. The man to save Venezuela the first two times was forward Daniel Arismendi, a beneficiary of Venezuela's decision to start a second forward for the first time in qualifying. Tied 2-2 at the half, Bolivia took a commanding 3-2 lead with only thirteen minutes left in the match. Venezuela managed to tie the game at three and then caught a break when Bolivian goalie Carlos Arias suffered a leg injury with no substitutions remaining. The Venezuelans received two goals from forward Giancarlo Maldonado, who took advantage of Arias's inability to jump for his first strike. His second goal and his team's fifth came against a stand-in goalie who was out of position.

In the day's other match, Colombia pulled off a shock home victory against previously unbeaten and untied Argentina, 2-1. Star Argentinian forward Carlos Tévez was sent off for kicking an opponent who was not a part of the play. Playing down a man for the rest of the game, Argentina did not go away. In fact, they took a 1-0 lead into the half after a goal from Messi. In the second half, Bustos executed a marvelous free kick reminiscent of the one he scored against Venezuela, and the Colombians picked up the win with an empty net strike past a beaten Abbondanzieri. The game featured another two cards for Argentina, these of the yellow variety. Colombia countered with five yellows of their own, including two for removal of shirts following goals.

Alfio Basile, coach of Argentina said afterwards, "We played a very good first half, but the only place where you can't afford to be left with ten players is at altitude. We felt it in the second half. With ten men, we played the way I like, playing the ball around, with triangulations, but we felt the difference of being a man short."

CONMEBOL qualifying resumes in June 2008. Argentina has 9 points, Colombia has 8, Venezuela has 6, and Bolivia has 1.

Goal scorers:
Venezuela: Arismendi 20, 40; Guerra 81; Maldonado 89, 90

Bolivia: Martins 19, 77; Arce 27

Colombia: Bustos 62; D. Moreno 82

Argentina: Messi 36

Perú 1 - Brazil 1; Uruguay 2 - Chile 2

Chile went into Montevideo looking for crucial road points against Uruguay. They got the job done with a 2-2 tie. Both Chile and Uruguay have earned four points so far in qualifying. Chile managed a tie despite being outshot eleven to four; in fact, Chile actually held a 2-1 late in the second half after being down 1-0 at the break. The game became very heated, though, as both teams picked up four yellow cards apiece.

"If we had won the match, it would not have coincided with what happened on the field of play, for which reason the point which we obtained was valuable to us." This was the opinion of Chilean coach Marcelo Bielsa.

"Brazil have good players, but none of them have four legs or four hands. They've had the upper hand in recent encounters but this is something else entirely. We can't afford to give them any space," said Peruvian midfielder Norberto Solano before the match.

Perú surely did not have high expectations coming into its match against world-beaters Brazil. Brazil certainly outperformed the Peruvians on the attack by taking seven shots from inside the penalty area. Unfortunately for Brazil, none of the shots found the back of the net. Perú took four yellows to Brazil's one and did everything they could to contain the high-powered Brazil sqaud at home in Lima. After being down 1-0 at the half, the Peruvians found a way to tie the game and earn their second point of qualifying so far. Brazil now have five points.

Brazilian coach Dunga spoke after the game. "Our performance was very good in the first half but we dropped off in the second, when we lost a lot of balls in the midfield and they were able to hit us on the break."

Goal scorers:
Chile: Salas 59, 69 PK

Uruguay: Suárez 42; Abreu 81

Brazil: Kaká 40

Perú: Vargas Risco 72

Thailand 1 - Yemen 0; Singapore advance; Syria, Turkmenistan roll

In the first match of the day, Singapore took its 2-0 aggregate lead to Tajikistan. Tajikistan got off to the best possible start with a goal in the first minute and were looking desperately to tie the aggregate. What they got instead was a tie game at the half. Neither team was able to hit the back of the net and Singapore came out with a 1-1 tie and a 3-1 aggregate victory. Singapore goes on to round three after pulling consecutive upsets.

Syria continued its dominance against Indonesia at home. As if a 4-1 road victory weren't vicious enough, the Syrians defeated the Indonesians with a seven-goal shutout. Surprisingly, given the final score, the Syrians were held by the Indonesians until the fortieth minute, and then the deluge began.

Thailand and Yemen were tied after one leg with one goal apiece. Thailand looked to draw upon its home crowd and qualify for Asia's third round. The Thais called upon Asia's top goalscorer Sarayoot Chaikamdee to do his thing, and he came through with his seventh goal of the tournament. The 1-0 score held up for Thailand, who now have advanced on a 2-1 aggregate victory. For Yemen, Al Wadi was sent off along with his team's hopes for South Africa in second half stoppage time.

The final match would determine which Asian team would be the twentieth and last nation to put its name into Asia's preliminary draw at Durban in one week's time. It pitted Hong Kong as visitors looking to steal a win in Turkmenistan with the aggregate tied at 0-0. A chippy first half-hour, featuring three yellow cards, ended without a goal. Turkmenistan, however, scored three unanswered goals to book its place in Asia's third round. They now eagerly await their fate at Durban.

Goal scorers:
Tajikistan: Ismailov 1

Singapore: Shah 27

Syria: Chaabo 41, 45, 86; Rafe 60, 90; Ali Dyab 74; Al Hussein 80 PK

Thailand: Chaikamdee 16

Turkmenistan: Nasyrov 40; Bayramov 55; Mirzoyev 80

Colombia 1 - Venezuela 0; Argentina, Paraguay win big

Argentina started off match day three of South American qualifying with a shutout victory at home to Bolivia, 3-0. Juan Riquelme netted two more scores, including one on a free kick, and pushed his tournament total to four, leading CONMEBOL in scoring. Bolivia did its best to slow Argentina's attack by any means, committing nineteen fouls to Argentina's eight.

Colombia keeper Agustín Julio spoke before the match against Venezuela. "Matches against Venezuela have always got that special derby flavour. Last time around they beat us on our own patch, but we're hoping to make home advantage count and start writing our own little piece of history."

Colombia dominated their neighbors Venezuela more than the final score line would indicate. The hosts outshot the visitors fifteen to four. Venezuela played a defensive game, attempting to come away with a scoreless draw. Up until the final five minutes of the game, the strategy had worked. Unfortunately for Venezuela, a well-placed free kick was the only goal of the game and sent the crowd in Bogotá into euphoria. Venezuela committed eleven fouls and were only able to draw four. Colombia have yet to surrender a goal in the tournament. Acoording to Venezuelan coach Richard Páez, "It was another tight game as always but we didn't count on the free kick."

In Paraguay, the host country destroyed Ecuador, a side that had qualified for the previous two World Cup finals. Ecuador are stuck in neutral and have lost all three of their qualifiers so far by a combined score of 11-1. Paraguay took a nice, comfortable 2-0 lead into the break and extended it to 3-0 before Ecuador scored its first goal of the tournament. The final score was 5-1 to the home side. This was the first match out of thirteen in South American qualfying in which both sides were able to score. Ecuador's coach, Luis Suárez, resigned after the match.

Goal scorers:
Argentina: Agüero 41; Riquelme 57, 74

Colombia: Bustos 82

Paraguay: Váldez 8; Riveros 26, 87; Santa Cruz 50; Ayala 82

Ecuador: Kaviedes 79

Sierra Leone 0 - Guinea-Bissau 0; Comoros finished

In the first FIFA World Cup qualifier ever in Comoros, the home territory was overtaken by Madagascar's attack. With a 6-2 lead in the aggregate coming in, Madagascar were all but guaranteed a slot into the final 48, yet they came out looking to win. A 1-0 lead at the half grew to 4-0 by the end of the match, and now Madagascar will await their fate in Durban.

Sierra Leone defeated Guinea-Bissau in a hard-fought 1-0 victory at home in Freetown. With the location shifting to Bissau, Guinea-Bissau were looking to pull the upset. While they did manage a clean sheet, Sierra Leone matched the feat and the result was a scoreless draw. Sierra Leone is the final team to join Africa's second round and will also be eagerly awaiting the Durban draw on November 25.

Goal scorers:
Madagascar: Nomenjanahary 38, 52; Rakotomandimby 62; Robson 74

New Zealand 2 - Vanuatu 1; Fiji tie New Caledonia

New Zealand, the favorites to win the OFC Nations Cup, started off their home-and-away qualifier with Vanuatu in the underdog's capital city, Port Vila. New Zealand had a 2-0 in Fiji last month, and today ran their point total in qualifying to six with a 2-1 victory. Vanuatu certainly had to have been pleased with their halftime lead of 1-0, but the New Zealanders answered early in the second half and put away a back-breaking goal in stoppage time to topple Vanuatu.

In a rematch of the final of the South Pacific Games, New Caledonia visited Fiji. This matchup was their third so far in qualifying, and the two will face off once more in four days time. New Caledonia now leads the series 1-0-2 over Fiji after their comeback, 3-3 draw in Ba. The Fijians took a 2-0 lead at the half and watched it disappear in the second. The current 2010 World Cup top scorer Osea Vakatalesau (12 goals) scored with under five minutes to go to put his home nation on top 3-2, but New Caledonia struck one minute later and held on for the tie.

Goal scorers:
New Zealand: Smeltz 53; Mulligan 90+3

Vanuatu: Naprapol 26

Fiji: Nawatu 2; Vakatalesau 27, 86

New Caledonia: Gjamaci 66; Kaudre 83; Hmae 87

Djibouti advance, eliminate Somalia 1 - 0

Djibouti put their name into the pot for the preliminary draw on November 25 by winning their one-off tie versus Somalia. Because Somalia was deemed unsafe for play, FIFA decided to shorten this tie to a single game in Djibouti. In fact, Somalia have not played at home since 1986. With the shutout victory, Djibouti have become team number 46 to qualify for Africa's second stage; only two more spots remain.

In other African news, Togo will not be allowed to play any of its first three home qualifiers in Togo. This decision was handed down after violent actions by Togo's fans were committed against visiting Mali players.

Goal scorers:
Djibouti: H. Yassin 84

AFC Pots for the preliminary draw, seeding changes

The AFC seedings have changed among the top five teams.

1. Australia
2. South Korea
3. Iran
4. Japan
5. Saudi Arabia

Iran move from five to three, and Saudi Arabia drop from three to five.
For the preliminary draw, the pots will be as follows:

Pot A
Australia
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Japan

Pot B
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Kuwait
North Korea
China

Pot C
Jordan
Iraq
Lebanon
Oman
United Arab Emirates

Pot D
Qatar
Indonesia or Syria (1-4)
Yemen or Thailand (1-1)
Hong Kong or Turkmenistan (0-0)
Singapore or Tajikistan (2-0)

Hong Kong 0 - Turkmenistan 0

In the first of two legs, the final two teams to begin second round play in Asian qualifying played a scoreless draw. Turkmenistan saw four of its players draw yellow cards, but no one for Hong Kong was booked. The return leg will be in Turkmenistan on October 18.

Thailand 1 - Yemen 1; Singapore, Tajikistan win

Round two of AFC qualifying started off today with two interesting matches setting up close ties and one potential blowout.

Singapore continued their improbable run to the third round of Asian qualifying with a two-goal shutout victory at home to Tajikistan. In fact, the Tajikis switched goalkeepers in the second half in order to cope with the Singaporean onslaught. Singapore are the only lower seed to advance to round two and look to the return leg to pull off another upset victory.

Regarding the play of the Bosnian-born goal scorer Duric, Singapore's coach Avramovic said, "He showed us his quality, some great passing and good positioning and did very well with both goals." Still, Avramovic saw room for improvement. "It was a good game. We knew we had to score some early goals to take into the second leg to have a chance of reaching the third round. I'm just disappointed we missed so many chances."

In the debut for Indonesia, they succumbed to their guests, the Syrians. Syria are the highest seeded team playing in the second round, and they asserted their dominance today with a 4-1 victory, including a back-breaker in second-half stoppage time. Indonesia now have a nearly impossible comeback on their hands as they are down three goals and need to score at least four on the road in order to survive.

The final match of the day involved Thailand visiting Yemen. The visitors took a 1-0 first-half lead behind a strike from Asia's top goal-scorer Chaikamdee only to watch it vanish within five minutes. No more goals were netted in the remainder of the match, but Ali Omqi did get sent off for Yemen and will not be available for the return match.

The second round continues tomorrow with Hong Kong hosting Turkmenistan. All four ties wrap up on November 18th.

Goal scorers:
Thailand: Chaikamdee 39

Yemen: Al Nono 43

Syria: Issmael 17; Al Zeno 34; Chaabo 44; Rafe 90+3

Indonesia: Sudarsono 37 PK

Singapore: Duric 24, 44