Son Heung-min leads the Korea squad, who will play Sri Lanka and DPR Korea in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian Qualifiers but Jae-ik's inclusion is based on his performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019.

Korea Republic emerged runners-up after a phenomenal performance and Bento has obviously marked Jae-ik, who plays for Qatar's Al Rayyan, as a future national team stalwart.

"I felt that this was the right time for him to join the senior team and show us what he has. We have a lot of depth in his position (at centre-back). He'll not be guaranteed playing time, but we'll see how competitive he can be against national team veterans," said Bento.

A first half brace from Abahani Limited Dhaka stiker Nabib Newaj Jibon gave Bangladesh a two-goal cushion before goals from Biplo Ahmed and substitute Rabiul Hasan in the second half put the game beyond Bhutan's reach.

The Japanese tactician has named a 23-man squad with the inclusion of Geylang International midfielder Firdaus Kasman and 16-year-old Hougang United winger Farhan Zulkifli in the squad.

Malaysia conceded four goals in their first two matches - a 3-2 victory over Indonesia while Ali Mabkhout’s double saw the Southeast Asians edged 2-1 by the United Arab Emirates in their second match.

Abramov returns to the head coaching role he previously held from 2010 to 2012, with his first assignment to come in next month’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian Qualifiers fixtures.

As well as holding head coaching positions at several of the country’s top clubs, most recently FC Bunyodkor, Abramov guided Uzbekistan to the AFC Asian Cup semi-finals in 2011, their best ever finish at the tournament.

DPR Korea, who defeated Lebanon and Sri Lanka in the Asian Qualifiers, jumped five places to 113th in the world in the FIFA Ranking released on Thursday..

Yemen (137th), Singapore (157th) and Nepal (161st) also improved their respective rankings by five spots.

Bahrain (105), Tajikistan (115) and Mongolia (183) each moved up four spots.

Goals from distance, individual brilliance and solo efforts lit up the opening two rounds of the Asian Qualifiers. the-AFC.com has picked five. Tell us who you think scored the best goal.