DOHA: South Korea resumed their World Cup qualifying campaign after 19 months with a 5-0 win over Turkmenistan on Saturday to move within sight of the third round.

Bordeaux striker Hwang Ui-jo scored a brace as South Korea regained first place in Group ‘H’ in the second phase of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

It was South Korea’s third win in four matches, the only blip being a goalless draw against Lebanon in November 2019 before Covid-19 played havoc with the competition.

The Lebanese had taken first place by beating Sri Lanka 3-2 in the first part of a double-header in Goyang, South Korea.

Victory in the second match allowed the hosts to retake top spot with a far superior goal difference.

The Turkmens spent the game chasing shadows as they crashed to their third defeat in five group matches to stay third, four points behind the top two.

Paulo Bento’s South Korea took the lead when Hwang headed home from a long cross from Hong Chul in the 10th minute.

The floodgates didn’t open immediately, as Turkmenistan kept South Korea at bay for more than 35 minutes with goalkeeper Rasul Charyyev playing a key role.

In first-half stoppage time, however, Charyyev could only parry an effort from Kwon Chang-hoon into the path of the Qatar-based Nam Tae-hee who tapped in.When Kim Young-gwon found the net in the 57th minute from a corner by Son Heung-min which was headed down by Jung Woo-young, the outcome was more or less sealed.

Kwon Chang-hoon increased the tally in the 63rd minute and Hwang added his second in the 73rd to complete an impressive display for the Taegug Warriors.

Earlier, Lebanon bounced back from a goal down to beat spirited Sri Lanka with Joan Oumari finding the net twice.

Berlin-born Waseem Razeek gave Sri Lanka a shock lead in the 10th minute after taking advantage of a defence-splitting pass by Kavindu Ishan and finishing past Lebanon goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil.

Sri Lankan joy lasted barely a minute. Oumari found the equaliser immediately after the restart as he headed in an excellent free-kick taken by Mohamed Haider.

Mohamed Kdouh then put Lebanon ahead in the 17th minute, rising above the defence to head home another great cross from the right by Hussain Zein.

The Cedars took a two-goal lead into the break after Oumari struck from six yards in the 44th minute when the Sri Lankan defence failed to clear a corner.

Sri Lanka started strongly after resumption and could have pulled one back but Razeek’s free-kick was deflected onto the post by goalkeeper Khalil.

Razeek netted his second goal of the day, firing into the roof of the net from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Hassan Chaitou.

Sri Lanka remain pointless after their fifth defeat.

In Saturday’s other qualifier, Saudi Arabia moved five points clear of Uzbekistan in Group ‘D’ with a 3-0 win over Yemen in Riyadh.

All the goals came in the first half. Salem Al-Dawsari opened the scoring after four minutes and then two goals from Fahad Al-Muwallad sealed the victory.

The Saudis, who drew two of their games earlier lead the group with 14 points while Uzbekistan are second on nine.

Only the winners of each of the eight groups in Asia’s preliminaries are guaranteed to advance to the third round, where they will be joined by the four runners-up with the best records.

There are 13 games on Monday with China playing their first in the United Arab Emirates. The team routed Guam 7-0 on May 30 in front of 40,000 fans in Suzhou but with Group ‘A’ opponents Maldives and Syria struggling to gain entry into China due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) switched the group to Sharjah.

If China fail to defeat the Philippines, then finishing first will be impossible with Syria moving eight points clear on Friday after a 4-0 win over Maldives.

Japan, in action against Tajikistan, are the only team already sure of a place in the third round and could be joined by Australia.

After defeating hosts Kuwait 3-0 on Thursday, Australia will progress with a win over Taiwan if Jordan, currently five points behind in Group ‘B’, fail to defeat Nepal.

Iran, in third place in Group ‘C’, is three points behind leaders Bahrain but have a game in hand. The two meet on Monday.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2021