IMPROVED PERFORMANCE FROM THAILAND AND SINGAPORE

Frontrunners Bahrain kept their unbeaten run intact at the National Stadium in Manama when Salman Isa cancelled out Thonglao Datsakorn lead in the 65th minute to keep the homesters at the top of Group B with 10 points.

It was Thailand’s first point in the third round of the qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa.

Bahrain were reduced to 10-men midway through the second-half when midfielder Abdulla Fatai, who was included in place of suspended captain and key midfielder Mohammed Hussain, was shown the red card in the 56th minute for elbowing Teeratep Winothai.

In the meantime, Uzbekistan became the first and only team to storm into Asia’s final ten-team round with two games to spare after they picked up their fourth straight win – a 1-0 over Singapore at Tashkent.

Having crushed Singapore 7-3 in their previous match, Uzbekistan would have been supremely confident to tame the Lions with another emphatic victory when they played hosts.

However, Singapore gave a much better account of themselves throughout the match until second half substitute Alexander Geynrikh scored the only goal with ten minutes to go.

Sixteen minutes after he was sent on, Geynrikh eased the home crowd’s worries by netting the winner.
An onrushing Server Djeparov was tackled by Singapore forward Shi Jiayi but the loose ball fell into the path of Geynrikh, whose blistering shot from the edge of the area gave goalkeeper Lewis Lionel no chance.