Sports Desk :
Bangladesh still have chance to progress to the third round of the Asia Cup Football 2019 qualification tournament despite a 0-6 goals humiliation by Tajikistan.
In the second leg in Dhaka on Tuesday, Akhtam Nazarov got the only goal of the game to give the Central Asians a 1-0 win, 6-0 on aggregate. Bangladesh lost the first leg by 0-5 goals
In another playoff match, India survived an early scare to thrash Laos 6-1 in the second leg of their 2019 Asian Cup qualification playoff to move into the third round with a 7-1 aggregate win on Tuesday night in Guwahati.
With a 1-0 lead from the first leg five days previously, any thoughts that the return match would be a stroll seemed to be dispelled in the 16th minute as Khonesavanh Sihavong struck to put Laos level.
Two minutes before half-time, however, Jeje Lalpekhlua, the scorer from the first leg, made it 1-1 on the evening. There was still time before the break for Sumeet Passi to give India a bigger advantage.
All doubt was removed five minutes after the restart as Sandesh Jhingan headed home and with 16 minutes remaining, Lalpekhlua grabbed his second of the evening. Soon after Mohammad Rafique got in on the act to make it 5-1. Fulganco Cardozo added a sixth with three minutes left on the clock.
Cambodia join India in the third round as a 2-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in Phnom Penh gave the hosts a 4-2 win on aggregate.
Hong Pheng had a large crowd at the capital’s National Olympic Stadium on their feet after 11 minutes and a penalty on the hour, converted by Prak Mony Udom, sent Cambodia through.
After the sacking this week of coach Ricki Herbert, Maldives lost 2-0 away to Yemen for a 4-0 defeat overall. The ex-New Zealand boss was axed only nine months into a two-year contract.
“We had a meeting with coach Herbert and he also wanted to find a solution for this this,” Football Association of the Maldives President Ahmed Thrariq told the Asian Football Confederation website.
Malaysia were in action on Monday, following a 3-0 first leg win over Timor-Leste with a second leg victory by the same score line.
Khair Jones opened the scoring after 16 minutes. Hazwan Bakri made it two just before the hour with S. Chanturu making it three.
For the losing teams in the playoff ties, the road to the United Arab Emirates is not yet over, as they have entered a second playoff.
Bangladesh take on Bhutan, Timor Leste play Chinese Taipei and Laos meet Maldives.
Those two-legged affairs will take place in September and October. The three winners will then progress to the third round.
