Iraq and Kazakstan won World Cup qualifiers Monday, forcing a showdown later
this week for a spot in the Asian finals.
Iraq beat Nepal 4-2 and Kazakstan defeated Macau 5-0 in a doubleheader at
Almaty, Kazakstan.
Going into their Wednesday matchup, which will determine first place in
Group Six, Iraq and Kazakstan are both 4-0-1, but Iraq is ahead on goal
difference: plus 23 to plus 18.
Group Seven play began Monday with a doubleheader at Tashkent. Uzbekistan
routed visiting Taiwan 7-0 as Dzhafar Irismetov scored four goals and
Turkmenistan beat Jordan 2-0.
The group winners join Bahrain, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the
10-nation Asian finals, which will produce two qualifiers for the 2002
tournament in Japan and South Korea.
Iraq took a 3-0 lead when Haidar Jassim scored in the 27th minute, Abdul
Wahab Abolheel converted a penalty kick in the 30th following a hand ball in
the penalty area and Emad Ridha scored in the 32nd.
Nari Khadka scored for Nepal (1-4)in the 37th, but Amer Mhasen made it 4-1
in the 53rd. Naritan Ramachi got the final goal in the 62nd.
In the opener, Kazakstan defeated Macau (0-5) behind two goals each from
Igor Avdeyev (53rd and 72nd minutes) and Dmitry Byakov (49th and 70th) plus
another from Konstantin Gorovenko (83rd).
Turkmenistan won the opener of its doubleheader on goals by Jamadurdy
Marevov in the 52nd and Redjepmurad Magamayev in the 81st.
In the second game, Irismetov scored in the third, 23rd, 68th and 74th
minutes for Uzbekistan, which also got goals from Alexei Dionisiyev (21st),
Vladimir Maminov (35th) and Georgy Georgiyev (43rd).
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
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