As five more teams took their place in the final round of qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup following victories after the second-legs of their play-offs.

    India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Tajikistan and Yemen all recorded comfortable aggregate victories to take their place alongside 12 other nations that had advanced following the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers, leaving Laos, Timor-Leste, Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Bhutan battling out in the second and final phase of the play-offs, which start in September and conclude in October.

    Timor-Leste became the first side to find themselves facing another two-legged fixture to keep their Asian Cup dream alive when 2010 AFF Championship winners Malaysia recorded a second 3-0 win over their regional rivals on Monday, with the 6-0 aggregate defeating seeing the Timorese have to take on Chinese Taipei.

    Chinese Taipei, lost out in the first round of the play-offs to Cambodia, with a 2-2 home draw in the first leg proving to be the undoing of Toshiaki Imai’s side who went down 2-0 in Tuesday’s return fixture in Phnom Penh. A 2-0 home defeat also cost the Maldives, with their first-leg loss to Yemen also resulting in head coach Ricki Herbert losing his job. 

    Bangladesh were also on the receiving end of a heavy defeat in their first round playoff, with a 6-0 aggregate defeat to Tajikistan taking the former South Asian champions’ AFC Asian Cup qualifying drive down to the wire. Bangladesh will face Bhutan. 

    The three victorious sides in the final playoffs will complete the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying picture, with 24 teams competing for one of 12 remaining slots on offer at the 17th edition of Asia’s flagship tournament.

Source: QNA