The AFC Executive Committee decided to combine two sets of criteria – the first takes reference from the top five teams of the most recent edition (the AFC Futsal Championship Chinese Taipei 2018), and the second applies a point system which calculates the top five teams from the overall ranking of the last three editions of the AFC Futsal Championship (i.e., 2014, 2016 and 2018 editions).

Fares Juma's stoppage time winner secured Al Wahda their first win of the campaign, taking them to second in the group on four points, five behind leaders Persepolis who defeated FC Goa 2-1 in the other match on Tuesday.

Caio's curled free-kick was denied by goalkeeper Sanjar Kuvvatov before Khaled Bawazir tapped-in the rebound to break the deadlock before Dragan Ceran equalised for Pakhtakor. Caio then set up Salem Saleh for Sharjah's second and drove home their third himself and his fellow Brazilian Luan Pereira completed the rout late in the second half.

The hosts were forced to come from behind after conceding an own goal in the 51st minute, with Petros Araujo scoring the equaliser in the 69th to salvage a 1-1 draw.

Menezes, who took charge of the Saudi club last week, admitted that his side struggled to perform against the Islamic Republic of Iran side, particularly in the final third where they had 11 total shots on target compared to Foolad’s five.

Al Sadd scored three goals in the first 26 minutes of the match through Baghdad Bounedjah, ‎Boualem Khoukhi and ‎Hassan Al Haydos to move to four points, one behind joint-group leaders Al Nassr and Foolad Khouzestan.

Xavi said while his side enjoyed a great start to the match, consistency is key if they are to progress to the Round of 16.

The Iranian side huffed and puffed but could not penetrate their opponents defence as they made it three consecutive draws to start their continental campaign. A combination of lacklustre finishing and heroic goalkeeping saw both sides unable to find the back of the net at Sharjah Stadium.

Persepolis fell behind against FC Goa, with Edu Bedia scoring a historic first AFC Champions League goal for the Indian team but the Islamic Republic of Iran side's superior quality prevailed with Mahdi Torabi and captain Seyed Jalal Hosseini hitting back as last season's finalists made it three wins out of three.