DILI (18 March 2015) – Timor Leste and Cambodia made it to the second round of the joint-qualifiers for 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup as Brunei fell by the wayside following their shock loss at home.
The Timorese who had dumped Mongolia 4-1 at home at the National Stadium last week, were determined in the defending as Patrick Alves nailed the early ninth minute goal to ensure their passage.
Timor Leste advanced into the second round on 5-1 aggregate.
On the other hand, Cambodia also made the cut into the next round despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Macau.
Cambodia had scored a 3-0 victory from the first leg in Phnom Penh.
Bin Chanthacheary had given Cambodia the lead on 44 minute before Macau grabbed the equalizer through Leong Ka Hang’s 52nd minute penalty.
The Cambodians advanced on 3-1 aggregate.
In the meantime, Brunei were denied a place in the second round after falling to a 2-0 loss to Chinese Taipei at home at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium.
Brunei had scored a 1-0 win in the first leg last week in Kaohsiung.
But this time round, the visiting Chinese Taipei side nailed a goal each in each half – Wang Ruei (37th minute) and Chu En-le (52nd minute) – to ensure their place.
Brunei lost the tie to Chinese Taipei on 2-1 aggregate.
The win for both Timor Leste and Cambodia will see them advancing to the second round where the 34 highest-ranked teams await.
The 40 nations will be drawn into eight groups of five teams and compete according to a double round robin format.
The Round 2 qualification matches will be held between June 11, 2015 and March 29, 2016.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup finals.
