Chonburi and Glass march on
Chonburi and Bangkok Glass moved closer to joining Buriram United in the AFC Champions League group stage after yesterday’s wins.
In the second play-off round, Thai Premier League runners-up Chonburi hammered Hong Kong’s Kitchee 4-1 and FA Cup champions Bangkok Glass thrashed Malaysia’s Johor Darul T’Zim 3-0 in oneoff matches.
In the third and final play-off round, Chonburi will go to Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol and Bangkok Glass will travel to China’s Beijing Guoan.
Both are one-off matches and will take place on Feb 17.
TPL champions Buriram United are the only Thai team to have qualified for the group stage.
At Chonburi Stadium, Brazilian striker Leandro Assumpcao hit a hat-trick and Nurul Sriyamkem scored the other to send the Sharks to the next round.
At Leo Stadium, Lazarus Kaimbi was on target twice after Narong Jansawek opened the scoring as the Glass Rabbits beat Johor 3-0.
Meanwhile, the world’s lowest-ranked soccer nation, Bhutan, will take on Sri Lanka next month, while sleeping giants India face Nepal in the first qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.
Yesterday’s first-round draw by the Asian Football Confederation, who is yet to find out from Fifa how many places the region has been granted in Russia, also pitted Yemen against Pakistan, while East Timor will face Mongolia.
The two-legged ties will be played on March 12 and 17, with Taiwan up against Brunei and Cambodia taking on Macau.
Bhutan, at 209 the worst ranked side in world football, haven’t played since losing 5-2 to Sri Lanka in a South Asian Football Federation Championship match in Kathmandu in September 2013.