Australia trounced Bangladesh 7-0 in Melbourne ahead of a trip to Kuwait in World Cup qualifying on Thursday, where the Palestinian team has elected to play its home game next Tuesday.

The continent’s top teams joined the Asian qualifying competition in the second round on Thursday. South Korea and Japan also started with comfortable wins.

The Palestinians held Lebanon to a 0-0 draw on neutral turf in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates in its second-round opener. The game was moved from Lebanon because of the security situation in the region amid the Israel-Hamas war.

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The top two teams from each of the nine groups of four in the second round will progress to the third stage.

Australia, which is chasing a seventh World Cup appearance, leads Group I after routing Bangladesh.

Jamie Maclaren scored a second-half hat trick, while Mitchell Duke netted two and Harry Souttar and Brandon Borrello added the others.

Palestine’s Tamer Seyam in action with Lebanon’s Ali Al Haj.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

“We know that Palestine is going to be right up for it,” Souttar said of Australia’s next match in Kuwait. “We know that they’re going to be playing for a lot more than just football.

“But we’re there to get a result and get a job done. We’ll be professional and be going for the win.”

At Osaka, Ayase Ueda scored three goals in Japan’s 5-0 victory over Myanmar. Daichi Kamada and Ritsu Doan also scored for Japan, which has appeared at the last seven World Cups.

In other matches, China beat Thailand 2-1 as it seeks to return to the World Cup for the first time since making its debut at the tournament in 2002, Iran defeated Hong Kong 4-0, and Qatar routed Afghanistan 8-1 with Almoez Ali scoring four.

Also, Saudi Arabia beat Pakistan 4-0, the United Arab Emirates defeated Nepal 4-0 and India beat Kuwait 1-0.