NO ASEAN TEAMS IN FOURTH ROUND OF WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

SINGAPORE (1 March 2012) – There will be no representations from ASEAN in the fourth round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers following defeats in the final round of the group matches played last night.

There were three ASEAN survivors in the third round of the qualifiers but neither Singapore, Thailand nor Indonesia could make the cut to the next round.

The Lions fell to a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Iraq, Thailand fell 2-0 to Oman while Indonesia were whitewashed 10-0 by Bahrain.

Playing at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Qatar, the Singapore side fell to a fourth minute strike from Jasim Karrar before Mahmoud Younis added the second goal in the 11^th minute. Ten minutes later, Iraq stretched to a 3-0 advantage when Mohamed Hawad Mulla converted a penalty.

And while Singapore managed to pull a goal back off Mohamed Abdul in the 28^th minute, the Iraqis gained a second penalty in the 36^th minute that was converted by Akram Nashat.

The score at the half was 4-1.

Two minutes into the second half, Iraq went further ahead with their fifth goal of the game off Kareem Mustafa as Younis then completed his hat-trick with goals in the 61st and 93^rd minute.

In the meantime, Thailand’s hope of making the fourth round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers was dashed when they fell to a 2-0 loss to Oman in Muscat.

With Australia beating Saudi Arabia in the other final Group D match, the Thais were hoping to beat Oman. But it was not to be when 21-year-old striker Hussain Al Hadhri broke the deadlock early in the ninth minute before Abdul Aziz Al Maqbali settled the game with a late injury time strike.

Indonesia on the other hand, saw the loss of goalkeeper Samsidar early in the second minute resulted in them being handed their heaviest ever defeat since 1974. They fell to Bahrain 10-0 at the Bahrain National Stadium last night.

Tayeb Mohamed (15^th, 60^th and 65^th minute) and Dhiya Sayed (62^nd, 82^nd and 94th) grabbed a hat-trick each to add to the doubles from Abdul Latif Ismael (5^th pen and 71^st minute) and Abdul Rahman Mahmood (34^th pen and 41^st).