Saudi Arabia advanced to the knockout stage of the with a game to spare after beating nine-man Kyrgyzstan 2-0. (More Football News)
Goals in each half from Mohamed Kanno and Faisal Al-Ghamdi at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, Qatar, put the three-time cham♎pions in first place in Group F.
The Saudis have six points from two games and are two points ahead of Thailand, which earlier drew 0-0 wﷺith Oman. Third-place Oman has one point and Kyrgyzstan is pointless.
The task for was made much easier by Kyrgyzstan, which was making only a second appearance in the tournament, havi💯ng a player sent off early in each half.
First to go was Aizar Akmatov for a rash challenge on Sa꧅mi Al-Naji after just eight minutes.
Kanno broke the deadlock 10 minut🎉es before the break, volleying home Saud Abdulhamid's🏅 cross at the far post.
Seve⛄n minutes into the second half, Kimi Merk was also shown a red for a dangerous tackle.
It resulted in almost constant pressure from Saudi Arabia and, with six minutes remaining, Al-Ghamdi's long-range shot took a deflection and went through the hands of the ot෴herwise impressive Erzhan Tokotaev in goal.
"It is difficult to play against Saudi Araꦡbia with 🔯11 players but with nine it is too difficult," Tajikistan captain Tamirlan Kozubaev said.
"We did our best."
Earlier, moved closer to securing a spot in t🎀he knockout stage with its scoreless draw against Oman.
There was little at��tacking action of note at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha with a close-range header from Elias Dolah of Thailand in🍬 the 15th minute almost crossing the line before it was cleared.
Oman, which lost its opening game against Saudi Arabia, struggled to break through the committed Thailand defence. Issam Al-Sabhi came closest with a shot that was saved late in the 🐻game.
“We are so happy to get one point and everybody wജorked hard for each other,” Thailand defender Pansa Hemviboom said. “We communicated well as a team to get this result.”
Oman needs a win in its🍌 final group match against Kyrgyzstan to keep alive iꦅts hopes of a place in the knockout stage.
The to🤪p two teams from each of the si🍃x groups advance, along with the four best runners-up.
