SINGAPORE - Singapore, Thailand, Syria and Turkmenistan booked the last four places in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after prevailing in their second-round ties on Sunday.
Singapore, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the Asian qualifying competition, advanced after holding Tajikistan to a 1-1 draw at the Republican Central Stadium in Dushanbe.
The reigning Asian champions held a two-goal advantage after a 2-0 victory in the Lion City on November 9 but the central Asian side looked set to overturn the deficit when Jamshed Ismailov took advantage of hesitant defending to fire Tajikistan ahead in the opening minute.
Singapore responded with Noh Alam Shah scoring an invaluable away goal in the 26th minute to make it 1-1 on the night.
Alam Shah's strike left the Tajiks needing three goals to rescue the tie but they were unable to find a way past goalkeeper Lionel Lewis again as the island republic side hung on for a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Singapore will be joined in the third round by south-east Asian rivals Thailand, who progressed 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-0 win over Yemen at the Supachalasai Stadium in Bangkok.
Sarayoot Chaikamdee netted the only goal in the 15th minute against a Yemeni side that finished the match with 10 players after Ahmed Al Wadi was sent off in stoppage time.
Syria marched through impressively, demolishing Indonesia 7-0 at the Al Abbasiyyin Stadium in Damascus for an 11-1 aggregate triumph.
Turkmenistan completed the third round line-up by following up last week's goalless draw in Hong Kong with a 3-0 win over the SAR side at the Olympic Stadium in Ashgabat.
The four second-round qualifiers will join 16 other national sides, including 2006 World Cup qualifiers Australia, South Korea, Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, in the draw for the third round which will be conducted in Durban on November 25.
The 20 teams will be divided into five groups of four for the third round, which will commence next February.
