Palestine romped into the quarterfinals of the AFC Challenge Cup from Group C when they thrashed Cambodia 4-0 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Monday.
Away in Chittagong, titlecontenders India were held to a one-all draw by the Philippines while Chinese Taipei came from behind to split points with Afghanistan in a 2-2 draw in Group A at the MA Aziz Stadium.
After an 11-0 blitz over Guam in the opener, Al Sweirki struck twice while Ahmed Keshkesh and Fahed Attal added one each as tournament hot favourites Palestine put on another clinical display to raise their tally to six points after two games.
On the other hand, the result knocked Cambodia out from contention.
Keshkesh opened the account
when the tall striker flicked in a freekick by Francisco Atura in the 10th minute for his second goal in the tournament while diminutive midfielder Sweirki doubled the lead within 60 seconds after a darting run from the midfield, putting the ball past an onrushing goalkeeper Mic Ouk.
Attal, fresh from his six-goal performance in the opener, then nodded the ball into an empty net on the half hour when Al Amour found him with an inch-perfect right-side cross.
On a very humid day, Palestine perhaps lost the appetite for more goals and looked more interested to relax on a three-goal cushion at the breather, allowing Cambodia to go on counter attacks. But their inexperienced forwards could not get the ball past an airtight defence -- much superior physically -- to threaten goalkeeper Iyad, who was not required to make a single save.
Kumpheak came close to reducing the gap in the 57th minute but
the forward blasted the ball over the lone keeper from 10 yards after hard work by Narath at the left.
Sweirki got his second goal in the 74th minute when he sliced through two defenders and placed the ball into the far corner after Fady Salem and Ziyad did the spadework at the right wing.
INDIA-PHILIPPINES
Favourites India's hero in their 2-0 victory over Afghanistan in the opening match, Vimal Pariyar once again gave his side the lead in the eighth minute on a cross from captain N Pradeep but Philippines restored the parity through midfielder Mark Alvin Valeroso 10 minutes later. Valeroso's header found the back of the net on a Jeremias Jiao corner.
Both the teams were engaged in a midfield battle since the beginning with India, playing without injured Xavier Vijay Kumar, making a few good moves. In the 29th minute Pariyar's shot from the
edge of the area went wide and 10 minutes later midfielder Lalmalsawma Hamar's shot hit the crossbar.
Philippines dominated the second half but failed to find the winner. Valeroso's solo effort in the 55th minute saw his shot sail over the bar while Indian custodian Paul Shilton made a diving save on a Alexander Borromeo shot in the 75th minute. James Gunn's header on substitute Ian Araneta pass went wide three minutes before the final whistle.
Indian coach Islam Akhemdov was satisfied with the result saying his team still has a match in hand. "We lost nothing today and have a match in hand to qualify for the quarterfinals. I am happy with the result and the performance of the players," he said.
"Philippines are a strong team and they played good football. We had to adopt defensive strategy in the second half because our players were tired."
Akhmedov said he missed Xavier Vijay Kumar and the player is doubtful for the third match also.
Philippines coach Aris Caslib said: "Our FIFA ranking is much lower than India but we managed to hold them. It is a positive result for us."
AFGHANISTAN-CHINESE TAIPEI
Chinese Taipei came from a two-goal deficit to snatch a valuable point from Afghanistan.
Hafizullah Qadami scored in the 19 and 23 minutes to give rankoutsiders Afghanistan a surprise 2-0 lead at the break but Chuang Wei-Lun reduced the arrears in the 47th minute to keep Taipei in contention. The equaliser came from Liang Chien-Wei in the 73rd minute as Taipei shared the lead with India on four points a