Weiss, who was appointed by the Blue Wolves in 2017, is happy with his team’s preparations after a 10-day training camp in Phuket, Thailand but he will not take Brunei Darussalam lightly when they meet at the MFF Football Centre in the first leg despite the Southeast Asian team's head coach .

At stake for the winners of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 is a place alongside 34 teams from Asia in the second round - where the likes of top-ranked Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Australia and Saudi Arabia will all be in the fray.

The Asian sides will be chasing four confirmed berths to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, with the possibility of an additional seat being won via a Continental Play-off.

For the AFC Asian Cup China PR 2023, 23 berths are available and the-AFC.com takes a look at the Round One match-ups of the Asian Qualifiers.

Mongolia have never advanced beyond the first phase of qualifying for either tournament and take on Brunei Darussalam over two legs on Thursday and Tuesday hoping to notch up a victory that secures the country a place in the draw for Qatar 2022 and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

The winners will join the likes of Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the second phase and the prospect of facing one of the Continent’s giants, believes Souissi, will give the game a much-needed boost in the landlocked East Asian nation.

The nine players not part of the 23-member squad for the Asian Qualifiers are Abdul Mu’iz Sisa, Fakharazzi Hassan, Azwan Salleh, Azwan Ali Rahman, Hendra Idris, Azizi Ali Rahman, Najib Tarif, Shafie Effendy and Nurikhwan Othman.

Head coach Robbie Servais said he had planned on building the squad around the players from DPMM, who play in the Singapore Premier League and currently top the standings.

MALAYSIA 2-0 NEPAL

 Malaysia defeated Nepal 2-0 as the Southeast Asians enter the final phase of their preparations for the first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers.

Malaysia, who will face regional rivals Timor-Leste in the first round of the Qualifiers, turned on the power in the second half with Safawi Rashid and Shahrul Saad finding the back of the net at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Guam are about to get a short sharp taste of that next week when they open their 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers, as Round 1 action kicks off on Thursday. The remote northern Pacific island nation was drawn against Bhutan in April, and it soon became apparent that the football contest is just one part of the challenge.

Guam will leave the cloying humidity of their tropical homeland behind and head for the kingdom perched high up in the Himalayas. There they will find a unique almost magical place, with its distinctive Changlimithang stadium a fitting display of local traditional design.

Evolution, not revolution for Uzbekistan

After his first tournament in charge of Uzbekistan, the AFC Asian Cup, ended in a Round-of-16 exit at the hands of Australia, Hector Cuper made nine changes to his squad ahead of friendlies with Turkey, DPR Korea and Syria.

Following the retirement of iconic goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov, it was Pakhtakor’s Eldor Suyunov who was handed the starting spot between the sticks in Antalya as the Uzbeks fell to a 2-0 defeat on Sunday.