Hebron: Palestine ended their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifying Group A campaign in style with an emphatic 7-0 win over Timor Leste on Tuesday.
Jaka Hbaisha gave Palestine a second minute lead before a Jonathan Cantillana Zorrilla strike and a Yaser Pinto Islame double gave the hosts a commanding four-goal advantage going into the interval at the Dura Stadium. Zorrilla made it 5-0 with his second midway through the second half before substitute Ahmed Awad and skipper Abdalattif Al Bahdari got their names on the score sheet.
The home side needed just 120 seconds to get off the mark against a Timor Leste side still searching their first Group B win with Slovenia-born Hbaisha, scorer of Palestine’s first ever AFC Asian Cup goal when found the net in the 5-1 defeat to Jordan - breaking the deadlock.
Zorrilla made it 2-0 with a superbly-taken 18th-minute volley before his fellow Chile-born team-mate Islame scored two goals in the space of seven minutes (32nd and 39th) to put Palestine firmly in the driving seat.
The Timorese tightened up after the interval and the home fans had to wait until the 66th minute to celebrate the fifth goal when Zorrilla scored his second of the match before Ahmed Awad, a 51st minute replacement for Shadi Shaaban, combined with fellow second-half substitute Tamer Seywan before firing home number six from the edge of the area in the 77th minute.
Palestine wrapped up the 7-0 win on the stroke of full time when skipper Al Bahdari was given ample time and space to head home a 90th minute corner as the winners of the last edition of the AFC Challenge Cup finished their Group A campaign in third with 12 points, while Timor Leste bring up the rear with just two.
Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.
The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams.
The remaining sides, which will include Bangladesh, will have to negotiate past two rounds of playoffs for one of the final eight spots in the Asian Cup third qualifying round.
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