Vietnam thrash Macau 6-0 in World Cup Asia Qualifiers

Posted on June 30, 2011 by SoccerPunter

Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia appear poised to advance to the second qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup Asia Qualifiers after convincing round one first leg wins on Wednesday.

Handed home advantage, Vietnam demolished minnows Macau 6-0 at the Thong Nhat stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, with top-scoring international striker Le Cong Vinh bagging a hat-trick.

Bangladesh take a comfortable 3-0 lead into Sunday’s second leg against Pakistan in Lahore, while Cambodia secured a 4-2 victory over neighbours Laos, with the away goals giving the visitors a glimmer of hope in the return leg.

Meanwhile Afghanistan will need some away day heroics after going down 0-2 to Palestine, who are now within touching distance of a round two tie with Thailand.

Reigning ASEAN champions Malaysia made heavy work of their 2-1 victory over Taiwan, keeping this Sunday’s second leg in the balance, while Mongolia secured a slender 1-0 advantage over Myanmar.

A single goal separates Nepal from Timor Leste after a 2-1 home victory while the Philippines relied on a second-half equaliser to avoid the embarrassment of an away loss to unfancied Sri Lanka.

The Azkals will need to be more convincing in Sunday’s home leg in Manila if their hopes of meeting Kuwait in the second qualifying round are to remain alive.

It is a long road to Brazil 2014 for Asia’s lesser sides.

Eight round one winners join 22 higher ranked teams – including China, Thailand and Iran – for home-and-away matches in the second round of the Asian qualifiers to be played 23-28 July.

The 15 victors from those ties will join Asian giants Japan, South Korea and Australia as well as North Korea and Bahrain, in the third round.

Results for World Cup 2014 Asia Qualifiers:

Malaysia 2 Taiwan 1
Bangladesh 3 Pakistan 0
Cambodia 4 Laos 2
Afghanistan 0 Palestine 2
Vietnam 6 Macau 0
Nepal 2 Timor Leste 1
Mongolia 1 Myanmar 0
Sri Lanka 1 Philippines 1