2018 World Cup qualifiers: Mohammad Al Sahlawi scores five goals for Saudi Arabia to become the leading goalscorer in international football this year

Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia striker Mohammad Al Sahlawi scored five goals to lead his team to a 10-0 away thumping of East Timor in their 2018 World Cup qualifier in Dili on Tuesday.

In so doing, the Al Nasr Riyadh striker became the leading goalscorer in international football this year, with 18 goals, as the Saudis remained top of Asian zone Group A ahead of the UAE.

Al Sahlawi’s impressive tally is two goals clear of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, three ahead of the UAE’s Ahmad Khalil and, even more impressively, five above Portugal’s current three-time Fifa world player of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Al Sahlawi, who has been one of the standout performers during the Asian qualifiers, scored twice in the first half then three more times in the second as Saudi Arabia made light work of Asian zone Group A’s bottom side.

Yahya Al Shehri, Osama Hawsawi, Taisir Al Jassim, Naif Hazazi and Fahad Al Muwallad also got on the scoresheet, while the home side’s woes were compounded when Adelino De Oliviera was sent off in the 88th minute for picking up a second booking.

Saudi Arabia’s emphatic win maintained their three-point lead over the UAE at the top of Group A, with Bert van Marwijik’s men on 16 points with two games remaining.

The eight group winners and four best runners-up will all progress to the next phase and also book a spot at the 2019 Asian Cup.

Al Sahwali has been the driving force behind his team’s success and is the leading scorer in the tournament with 12 goals from five matches.

“These are three important points and it was important to win here,” he said, in a televised interview. “It is not important who scored the goals but the win is the important thing. I hope this result will help us to keep our position until the end.”

The 28-year-old also scored three goals against the Timorese in their previous meeting in Jeddah in September and showed no mercy against the same opponents on Tuesday.

East Timor, winless in seven qualifiers, were without seven naturalised Brazilians following complaints about their eligibility after they earlier helped their adopted country draw with Malaysia and Palestine.

“It may seem to be an easy win, but it is not that easy after all players exerted their maximum effort,” Saudi Arabia’s Dutch coach Van Marwijk said, speaking through a translator.

Qatar, meanwhile, became the first side to book a spot at the 2019 Asian Cup and the next round of 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

The 2022 World Cup hosts were 3-0 winners over Bhutan at Changlimithang Stadium in the Thimphu mountains and they secured top spot in Group C when Hong Kong and China then played out a 0-0 draw in a politically tense clash.

Home fans booed China’s national anthem and held up defiant banners at the Mong Kok Stadium, where there was a heavy police presence as organisers wary of trouble following last year’s pro-democracy rallies.

The draw left Hong Kong in position to grab second place in the group behind Qatar, who have won all their six matches.

Cambodia, whose domestic champions Phnom Penh Crown FC have been hit by a match-fixing scandal which has led to seven players being suspended, were beaten 2-0 by Japan, who stayed clear in Group E.

Syria kept pace in second spot, one point back, after they struck in the 93rd minute to beat Singapore 2-1 at the National Stadium.

Tuesday’s 14-match schedule in Asia was kicked off by Iran beating US territory Guam 6-0 away, despite four of their players and two members of staff being refused visas to enter the tiny island.

Elsewhere, Asian champion Australia put aside security concerns in Dhaka to beat Bangladesh 4-0 in Group B, while South Korea crushed Laos 5-0 in Vientiane to make it six wins from six in Group G, which still contains Kuwait despite the country serving a Fifa ban.

The heavy defeat capped a bad week for Laos, whose football federation president Viphet Sihachakr was banned for two years on Monday and fined after accepting payments during the 2011 Fifa elections.

Indonesia, also undergoing Fifa sanctions for political interference, have been kicked out of Group F, where Iraq kept up their pursuit of leaders Thailand with a 2-0 win in Taiwan.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who is standing for the Fifa Presidency in February elections, is the man currently tasked with cleaning up Asian football. His Bahrain team lost 2-0 in North Korea, which all but ended their bid to reach Russia 2018.

In late matches, Turkmenistan edged Oman 2-1, Kyrgyzstan beat Jordan 1-0 and Uzbekistan downed Yemen 3-1.