China stormed into the third round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as they smashed six goals past hapless Laos to claim a 13-3 aggregate victory.
Laos went into the match in Vientiane trailing 7-2 after the first leg and there was no let-up from the visitors as Qu Bo opened the scoring after 24 minutes before Yu Hanchao put China two up at halftime.
Visay Phaphouvanin gave the home side a glimmer of hope with a strike soon after the restart, but the lowly Laotians faded as the half wore on and goals from Yu, Deng Zhuoxiang and first-leg hat-trick star Yang Xu sealed their fate.
Photo: AFP
The 6-1 win on the night takes China through to the penultimate stage of Asian qualifying, when big guns Japan, Australia and South Korea enter the regional competition, along with Bahrain and North Korea.
There was disappointment in southern China as Hong Kong crashed out after a 5-0 thumping at home by Saudi Arabia to add to the 3-0 reverse they suffered in the first leg.
It was a good night for Middle Eastern sides, with Kuwait, Syria and Jordan all progressing relatively easily at the expense of the Philippines, Tajikistan and Nepal respectively.
After suffering a 9-0 hiding in the first leg, Nepal retrieved a modicum of pride, holding Jordan to a 1-1 draw in Kathmandu thanks to an 80th-minute equalizer from Bharat Khawas.
Kuwait came from a goal down to beat the Philippines 2-1 in Manila, while two goals in each half saw Syria through 6-1 over two legs.
Two second-half goals from Vietnam saw them come from 1-0 down to beat 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar 2-1 in Hanoi, but the Gulf side’s three-goal cushion from the first leg was enough to keep them on the road to Brazil.
A goal in each half took Bangladesh to a 2-0 win at home against Lebanon, but the visitors went through thanks to their 4-0 first-leg victory.
Oman were two goals up against Myanmar in Yangon — and 4-0 on aggregate — when the match was abandoned because of crowd trouble.
In Jakarta, Indonesia survived a late surge from Tajikistan to hold on for a 4-3 win — 5-4 on aggregate — thanks to a Cristian Gonzales brace and goals from Mohammad Nasuha and Muhammad Ridwan.
It was honors-even in the clash of the south-east Asian neighbors in Kuala Lumpur, Jia Yi Shi’s 73rd-minute equalizer for Singapore canceling out Mohd Sali’s opener for Malaysia. Singapore went through 6-4 on aggregate.
Second-half substitute Bahodir Nasimov bagged a pair of goals as Uzbekistan, Asian Cup semi-finalists earlier this year, beat Kyrgyzstan 3-0 in Tashkent to record a 7-0 aggregate victory.
Gouramangi Singh equalized deep into injury-time as India came from two down to rescue a draw at home to the United Arab Emirates, but again the Gulf side’s first-leg advantage saw them through.
At the West Bank venue of Al Ram, Datsakorn Thonglao scored twice to give Thailand a 2-2 draw against Palestine and a 3-2 aggregate win.
Thailand won the first leg 1-0 but that was canceled out after just six minutes on Thursday when Murad Elyyan levelled the tie.
Datsakorn restored the one-goal cushion in the 33rd minute, but Elyyan took his international tally to an impressive eight in six internationals when he made it 2-1 on the stroke of full-time.
But with the Thais holding an away goal advantage, Palestine were caught on the break and Datsakorn scored his second of the game in stoppage-time.
In Male, Mohammed Khalatbari’s first-half strike was enough to give Iran a 1-0 victory over the Maldives and a 5-0 aggregate victory.
Former Asian Cup winners Iraq, who last made the World Cup finals in 1986, drew 0-0 in Yemen but went through courtesy of their 2-0 win in the first game.
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