Asian 2nd round, 1st leg:
China 7-2 Laos 
Iran 4-0 Maldives 
Iraq 2-0 Yemen 
Jordan 9-0 Nepal 
Kuwait 3-0 Philippines 
Lebanon 4-0 Bangladesh 
Oman 2-0 Burma 
Qatar 3-0 Vietnam 
Saudi Arabia 3-0 Hong Kong 
Singapore 5-3 Malaysia 
Syria 2-1 Tajikistan 
Thailand 1-0 Palestine 
Turkmenistan 1-1 Indonesia 
United Arab Emirates 3-0 India 
Uzbekistan 4-0 Kyrgyzstan 
There were no surprises as the second round of qualifying got underway in Asia.
The matches saw a number of past qualifiers enter the fray, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and China.
It was China who came closest to a shock defeat, as they found themselves 2-0 down at home to Laos after just half an hour. It looked like a huge upset was on the cards but the introduction of substitute Yang Xu turned the game in China’s favour. He scored on the stroke of half-time and went on to complete a hat-trick in the second half as China eventually ran out 7-2 winners.
The game of the day came in Singapore where south-east Asian rivals Malaysia went ahead in the first minute before the hosts powered to a 4-1 lead at half-time. Malaysia fought back in the second half, scoring twice in the space of a minute to make it 4-3 with 20 minutes left to play. But it was Singapore who had the last laugh when Bosnian-born 40-year-old Aleksandar Duric, a former Olympic canoeist, scored his second goal of the game to give Singapore a 5-3 win.
Thailand dominated their game against Palestine but were wasteful in front of goal and will be disappointed to only lead 1-0 after the first leg. An injury time penalty miss summed up Thailand’s night and Palestine will remain hopeful of reaching the group stage.
Iraq played their first World Cup qualifier at home in almost a decade and treated their fans to a 2-0 win over Yemen.
The biggest winners of the day were Jordan who put nine past Nepal, Hasan Abdel Mahmoud scoring four.
India found themselves reduced to nine men after just 23 minutes against the United Arab Emirates. The UAE scored from the resulting penalties but could only manage one goal in the second half, despite their two-man advantage.
Iran were 4-0 winners against the Maldives. A comprehensive victory, though not as comprehensive as their first World Cup meeting back in 1997, when Iran won 17-0.
Saudi Arabia have suffered a major dip in form in recent years but got off to a winning start against Hong Kong and will take a 3-0 advantage into the second leg.
Azkalitis has gripped the Philippines in recent weeks but former qualifiers Kuwait look like eradicating the fever after a 3-0 win.
2022 qualifiers Qatar also won 3-0, leaving Vietnam with a mountain to climb to reach the next round.
Uzbekistan had an encouraging run to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup in January and are off to a confident start, beating Kyrgyzstan 4-0.
Syria beat Tajikistan 2-1 but the visitors will take a valuable away goal into the second leg.
Lebanon bounced back from their humilating midweek friendly defeat against the UAE (see video below) by beating Bangladesh 4-0, while Oman scored a goal in each half to beat Burma 2-0.
The only seeded team not to win was Turkmenistan, who finished with ten men as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Indonesia on what looked to be a shockingly bad pitch.
The second leg matches are all scheduled to take place on Thursday.
World Cup Tracker - The Road to the 2014 World Cup 