AFC First Round Games

Finally we are getting going with this- the first eight games of the Asian qualifying have been completed. And there were goals, goals, goals!

Malaysia 4-4 Chinese Taipai- Malaysia win on away goals

Malaysia, by the rankings the best team in this round, overcame TAIWAN (take that you Chinese imperial bastards) in a very tight encounter. They won 2-1 at home, but were beaten 3-2 away. Not quite enough, and Malaysia go through. Though judging by this, they won't get much further.

Bangladesh 3-0 Pakistan

Pakistan lived up to their low expectations by getting bashed up by Bangladesh, who are hardly a footballing powerhouse themselves. They lost 3-0 at home, and managed a 0-0 draw away, thus ending their non existant hopes, and not making me look stupid by slagging them off so much in the previous AFC post.

Cambodia 6-8 Laos

Classic local derby stuff from South East Asia here. The first leg was 1-0 at half time to the away underdogs Laos, but finished up 4-2 to the hosts, putting them in a strong position for the second leg. But Laos got ahead 2-0, before it finished 4-2 as well, forcing extra time. Laos scored twice to go through.

Sri Lanka 1-5 Phillipines

Another South Asian country much more focused on cricket, Sri Lanka did manage to stay in contention with a 1-1 draw at home, but were easily beaten 4-0 in the thriller in Manilla. Possibly an overexageration, but it was a good game for former Chelsea player Phil Younghusband (albeight he never played for the first team) who bagged two goals.

Afghanistan 1-3 Palestine

In a very dangerous sounding two legs, Palestine (anyone else not know they had a team?) came out on top, winning by two goals in Takjikstan (Afghanistan's "home" leg) and drawing one all at home (which actually was played at their home).

Vietnam 13-1 Macau

Comfortably the biggest victory of the round. Macau might be one of richest countries in the world, but they are not good at football. 6-0 at home and 7-1 away. Lê Công Vinh put himself comfortably at the top of the qualifiers current top scorers list by bagging seven of Vietnam's goals. They go on to face Qatar in the next round, which all football fans will be hoping they win, thus making FIFA's choice to let Qatar host the 2022 world cup look even more ridiculous than it already does.

Nepal 7-1 Timor-Leste

Little Timor-Leste managed to give themselves a chance for the second leg with a narrow 2-1 defeat away to Nepal, before being thrashed 5-0 at their own place. Ah well, always next time, and at least those of us following these qualifiers have now heard of you.

Mongolia 1-2 Myanmar

An unusually low scoring and tight affair from this round to wrap things up. The Mongolians won one nil at their place, but the return in Burma (as we should really call it because the government are bad guys) went two nil the other way.

So we have our eight first round winners, who will join twenty-two higher ranked sides in another round of home and aways to see who progresses into the third round. New sides entering include the strongest muslim countries; Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq all having some degree of success, as well as half the worlds population in the form of India and China. The draw in full is at the side of the blog, consisting of a colourful mix of great holiday destinations, war zones and countries half the west have never heard of.