Singapore trounce Palestine, big win for Lebanon

[M|ch]

BANGKOK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Singapore had one foot in the second round of Asia's 2010 World Cup qualifying after romping to a 4-0 win away to Palestine on Monday.


Lebanon took a sizable advantage into the second leg after beating India 4-1 but Syria left it late to seal their victory over war-ravaged Afghanistan, scoring all their goals in the final 17 minutes to win 3-0.

Playing in Doha because of the volatile security situation in Palestine, Singapore's Shi Jiayi scored a goal either side of halftime to give the city-state a clear lead.

John Wilkinson added a third for the Southeast Asian champions on 73 minutes before prolific frontman Noh Alam Shah capped off the victory in Qatar with an 86th-minute strike.

'It was a good result,' Singapore's Serbian coach Radojko Avramovic said. 'It was good to see all the things we tried out at training finally coming off.'

Yemen beat the Maldives 3-0 but Asian Cup qualifiers Oman were not so convincing, taking only a two-goal advantage into the second leg away to lowly Nepal, who are ranked 106 places below them.

India took a shock lead against Lebanon on 30 minutes through Sunil Chhetri but Roda Antar levelled the score five minutes later to give the hosts the momentum.

Mohamad Ghadar scored a second half brace and Mahmoud El Ali added another to complete the rout.

In earlier matches, Thailand made an ideal start to their campaign with a stylish 6-1 thumping of strugglers Macau, with returning forward Surayuth Chaikamdee - who was dropped for the Asian Cup - grabbing two goals.

Asian Cup quarter-finalists Vietnam were made to rue their misfiring in front of goal after losing 1-0 at home to the Gulf champions United Arab Emirates and Tajikistan scored a second-half equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw away to Bangladesh.

Forty-three Asian countries are vying for four places in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

An additional berth in the 32-team finals is up for grabs for the fifth-placed Asian team if they can beat the winner of Oceania's qualifiers in a playoff.