Wu Lei struck from the penalty spot to break the deadlock in the 56th minute and Wu Xinghan doubled his side’s advantage nine minutes later as the Chinese moved on to 13 points from six games, six more than the Azkals, who remain in third.

A win over the Maldives on Friday will guarantee China PR finish in second place behind group winners Syria and will further strengthen their hopes of advancing to the third round of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup as one of the best runners-up.

Mardak Mardikian scored twice in the opening nine minutes and Mahmoud Al Mawas added a late third to maintain the Syrians’ perfect record with seven wins from seven games, meaning neither second-placed China PR or the Philippines can supplant them at the top of the table.

Victory also means Nabil Maloul’s team have booked their place among the 24 teams who will at the Finals of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

The Jordanian striker opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 24th minute and added a superb free-kick shortly after half-time, before Yazan Al Arab headed home a third as Vital Borkelmans’ side leapfrogged Kuwait in the race to reach the Third Round.

Nepal’s fifth defeat in seven outings means the South Asian side can no longer finish higher than fourth, bringing their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualification hopes to an end.

Iraq were the last team in the group to resume their campaign, with their rivals having played four days ago, and the West Asians hit the ground running as they reclaimed top spot with the win, with Islamic Republic of Iran and Bahrain to meet later on Monday.

The result leaves Qatar with 22 points, 10 points ahead of second-placed Oman, who still have two games to play - against Afghanistan on Friday and Bangladesh four days later.

Sunil Chhetri struck twice in the closing minutes as India boosted their hopes of sealing a place in the third round of the Asian Qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023, with the India captain taking his tally to 74 international goals – above Argentina's Lionel Messi and one off entering world football’s all-time top 10.

The hosts took the lead after just five minutes, Miki Yamane’s incisive through ball met the run of Takuma Asano and when his attempt was charged down by a flying Rustam Yatimov, the ball broke only as far as Kyogo Furuhashi who fired into an empty net.

Japan’s advantage lasted just three minutes as a fine cross from Manucher Safarov reached the head of Ehson Panshanbe and he re-directed the ball smartly home past goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda.