Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saida: Substitute Yousef Naser scored to help Kuwait beat Lebanon 1-0 in their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 opening match on Thursday.
The opening goal looked elusive as both sides looked for chances to no avail in the first half with the teams making three substitutions each in the second period.
Naser who came off the bench on 82 minutes duly made his mark four minutes later to give the Kuwaitis three points from their qualifying opener.
Up next, Lebanon will take on Laos on June 16 while Kuwait face Myanmar on September 3 in their Group G qualifying campaign.
The teams in Round 2 will compete according to a double round robin format, and the qualification matches will be held from June 11, 2015 to 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.