Dushanbe: Vitalij Lux’s first-half strike was enough for Kyrgyzstan to seal a 1-0 victory over Tajikistan on Tuesday as Alexander Krestinin’s side consolidated their third-place finish in Group B of the Preliminary Round 2 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers.
Both Central Asian sides were out of the reckoning for a place in the third qualifying round of 2018 FIFA World Cup and with Kyrgyzstan going into the encounter at the Central Republic Stadium a six points clear of the Tajiks there was nothing but pride to play for the home side.
Despite Tajikistan being on the front-foot for the majority of the opening exchanges it was the visitors who took the lead, with a quick 18th-minute counterattack finding Anton Zemlianukhin free inside the Tajik area before the Thailand-based midfielder cut the ball into the path of Lux.
And the 27-year-old Unterhaching forward made no mistake in turning the ball past Tajik keeper Alisher Dodov to score his second of the joint-qualifiers after netting his first international goal for Kyrgyzstan in the Central Asians’ 2-0 win over Bangladesh last October.
Kyrgyzstan’s fourth win of the second round of joint-qualifiers saw them finish third in Group B with 14 points, two behind Jordan and seven shy of table toppers Australia, while Tajikistan end their campaign in fourth with five points, four clear of basement-dwellers Bangladesh.
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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