Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Qatar went second in Group C of the FIFA World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifiers on Thursday thanks to a crushing 15-0 win over Bhutan.
No fewer than eight players scored for the Qataris who now have six points from their two games, one less than table-topping Hong Kong who had earlier drawn 0-0 away in China.
On what would prove to be a long night for the Bhutanese, Mohammed Musa opened the scoring in the eighth minute, before Mohammed Kasola, Ali Assadalla, Hassan Khalid and Musa again handed Qatar a 5-0 lead with less than 30 minutes played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Mohammed Muntari was quick to get in on the act with goals in the 38th and 41st minutes, while Assadalla added his second of the game on the stroke of half-time.
Muntari started the second period where he left off in the first, by notching his hat-trick on 48 minutes ahead of strikes from Akram Afif and Boualem Khoukhi.
Assadalla completed his hat-trick shortly after the hour mark, while further goals from Khoukhi, Ismaeel Mohammad and Khalid drew the game to a close.
Qatar will now travel to Hong Kong on Tuesday for a top of the table clash with their East Asian rivals.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA 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.