KUWAIT: Eid Al-Rashidi scored in the second half to lead Kuwait to a 1-0 victory against Afghanistan in the joint qualification match for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. With this result, Kuwait officially qualifies for the Asian Cup and advances to the next round in the World Cup qualifiers after finishing in second place in Group A, ahead of India who lost their match against group leaders Qatar 2-1.

Elsewhere, Indonesia look set to be the only Southeast Asian nation still in with a chance of reaching the 2026 FIFA World Cup - after advancing to the third round of the Asian qualifiers with a 2-0 win over Philippines on Tuesday. Heading into the tie lying second in Group F and a point ahead of Vietnam, the Indonesians’ fate was in their own hands and they duly got the result they needed through goals from Thom Haye and Rizky Ridho.

Even if Vietnam do pull off an almighty upset over Iraq later on Tuesday evening, they are guaranteed to miss out on the third round of the Asian qualifiers after doing so well to get that far last time out. Indonesia could have been joined by one of their regional rivals but it was not to be as Thailand narrowly missed out despite a 3-1 triumph over Singapore.

Needing a three-goal win to progress, the Thais took the lead through Suphanat Mueanta’s deft close-range finish but their hopes then took a real hit when Ikhsan Fandi equalized for the visitors with a thunderous effort three minutes before the hour mark.

Remarkably, Thailand mustered a stirring late rally as goals from substitutes Poramet Arjvirai and Jaroensak Wonggorn put them in with a chance, but they were just unable to find the crucial fourth goal as they spurned a glut of gilt-edged opportunities in the dying moments of the contest. Despite netting twice in the final 11 minutes for a dramatic 3-1 win over Singapore, Thailand have been eliminated from the World Cup qualifiers after losing out to second spot in Group C to China on an inferior head-to-head record.

The result saw them finish with an identical record with China but it was the latter who would ultimately claim second spot in Group C on the next tiebreaker of their head-to-head record, with Thailand having lost their opener to the Chinese before playing out a draw last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Malaysia gave themselves a glimmer of a chance as they overcame an early setback to beat minnows Chinese Taipei 3-1. Having fallen behind to Yu Yao-Hsing’s 20th-minute opener, Malaysia hit back eight minutes after the restart through a Safawi Rasid strike before Paulo Josue fired them ahead 16 minutes later.

But needing a big win to give themselves the best possible chance due to a turnaround in goal difference required, Adib Ra’op popped up in the 6th minute of injury-time to give them just an extra bit of hope. Still, the Malaysians will perhaps not be overly holding their breaths as they need Oman to beat Krgyz Republic by seven goals later in the evening in order for them to leapfrog into second spot in Group D and advance.

Prior to Tuesday’s action, Singapore, Philippines and Myanmar had already been eliminated and the trio would finish with a solitary point to their names each. — Agencies