The long and arduous road to the 2022 World Cup began yesterday, as Mongolia hosted Brunei in the first match of worldwide qualifying.
For Asian teams, the World Cup qualifying campaign also serves as a qualifying round for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. A recent announcement confirmed that the 24 team tournament is set to take place in China
It took just nine minutes for the hosts to take the lead, as Tsedenbal Norjmoo opened the scoring against the Southeast Asian side. Mongolia then doubled their lead shortly after the hour mark with a strike from Naranbold Nyam-Osor, allowing them to take a two-goal advantage to the second leg at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium.
Elsewhere, Laos were defeated 1-0 by Bangladesh at the National Stadium in Vientiane. They will now have a tough scoreline to overturn if they wish to match their runs to the Second Round of qualifying that they managed in their last two attempts.
Cambodia were the only Southeast Asian side to win in yesterday’s action, managing a 2-0 win over Pakistan courtesy of goals from Chanthea Sieng and Kouch Sokumpheak.
In the remaining two matches, hosts Brunei and Macau both managed 1-0 victories over Guam and Sri Lanka respectively.