Mabkhout continued his recent vein of rich form by scoring a hat-trick in UAE's 3-0 win over Yemen in their opener on Tuesday.

The striker, who last month became UAE's leading scorer, has scored six goals in the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

Defending champions Oman were held to a goalless draw by Bahrain in the other Group B match with both teams failing to put away their chances.

Ali Mabkhout scored a hat-trick as United Arab Emirates defeated Yemen 3-0 to move to the top of the Group A standings as the 24th edition of the tournament got off to a spectacular start.

Hosts Qatar are in Group A with United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Iraq, while defending champions Oman, 10-time winners Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are in Group B.

The top two sides from each group will advance to the semi-finals with the final on December 8 at the Khalifa International Stadium.

UAE suffered a 1-0 defeat to Vietnam in Hanoi on Thursday, on the back of a 2-1 loss to Thailand in October to leave the AFC Asian Cup 2019 semi-finalists third in Group G.

Vietnam lead the standings on 10 points, with Thailand second on seven and the UAE third on six and only ahead of Malaysia on goal difference after four matches.

Nguyen Tien Linh’s super strike was the difference as Vietnam held on for victory at My Dinh Stadium on Thursday to move top of Group E, while the UAE dropped to third place with six points from two wins and two defeats.

Vietnam still have four games left in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 qualification, and their next match is against regional rivals Thailand in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Teerasil Dangda gave Thailand the lead on 26 minutes before Ali Mabkhout leveled the scores in the dying seconds of the first half.

However, Ekanit Panya scored a goal six minutes after the break to hand UAE their first defeat in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.