Sunil Chhetri scored goals to increase his international record to 82 goals in India’s 2-0 win against Cambodia on Wednesday in Kolkata, when Igor Stimac’s team made a victorious beginning to the final round of qualifiers for next year’s Asian Cup.
Sunil Chhetri’s goal boosts India win over the first barrier
Sunil Chhetri skipper scored from the penalty mark with in 13th minute prior to actually slamming a header between Cambodian goalkeeper Hul Kimhuy 14 minutes soon to give his team a 1-0 lead in Group D.
Following the first round of fixtures, the group hosts are tied on three points with Hong Kong after Jorn Andersen’s squad won 2-1 over Afghanistan.
the winners of each of the 6 categories in the third round would be entitled to advance to the finals this year. And they will be accompanied by the 5 runners-up with the strongest teams.
In Section B, Oday Dabbagh’s penalty five minutes from time gave Palestine a 1-0 triumph against Mongolia, putting them leading the initial rankings just after Philippines and Yemen drew 0-0.
Uzbekistan, Asian Cup semi-finalists in 2011, strolled to a 3-0 victory against Sri Lanka in its first Group C game, joining Thailand, which defeated Maldives 3-0, on three points at the top of the standings.
Malaysia defeated Turkmenistan 3-1 in Kuala Lumpur to take the lead in Group E on goal difference over Bahrain.
Tajikistan defeated Myanmar 4-0 in Group F, with Shervoni Mabatshoyev scoring a goal, whereas Singapore fell 2-1 to Kyrgyzstan after leading the way via Song Ui-young.
Valeri Kichin equalised for Aleksandr Krestinin’s team from the penalty spot with 13 minutes on the clock, and Viktor Maier secured the points for the Central Asian country 5 minutes.
Twenty-four nations will compete in next year’s competition against 12 nations who advanced for the last round of Asia’s World Cup preliminaries already secured their spots in the finals.
A replacement location for the tournament has yet to be identified after China declined to host the event owing to the country’s continuous pursuit of a zero-COVID agenda.