Karim Ansarifard scored four and Sardar Azmoun a hat-trick on a historic day for Iranian football, as Asia's top ranked side's show of classy football was also watched by female fans at the iconic Azadi Stadium - for the first time in 40 years - with thousands in the stands.

Mehdi Taremi and Mohammad Mohebi registered braces while Ahmad Noorollahi, Hossein Kanaani and Mehrdad Mohammadi scored one each as Iran secured their second consecutive win, having opened their campaign to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 with a 2-0 triumph over Hong Kong last month.

The Continent's 40 teams will only have a few days to recover before Matchday Four comes along on Tuesday, with another 16 matches scheduled.

It was a day of high quality action as 32 of the 40 teams involved in this phase of the Asian Qualifiers got their campaigns underway.

The teams now have a four-day break before Matchday 2 on Tuesday, which will see Australia, China PR, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia kicking off their campaigns.

There were winning starts for Australia, China PR, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates while Saudi Arabia were held to a 2-2 draw by Yemen.

Bangladesh, the final team to open their campaign on Matchday 2, were edged 1-0 by Afghanistan.

The Asian Qualifiers action will resume on October 10 so make sure to stay with the-AFC.com for the latest.

Goals from Takumi Minamino, Maya Yoshida, Yuto Nagatomo and Kensuke Nagai in the first half put Japan in command before second half efforts from Hiroki Nagai and Daichi Kamada sealed an emphatic victory on their road to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

The win means the Japanese sit on six points from their first two games in Group F, having secured a 2-0 win over Myanmar in their opening game last month.

Vietnam broke the deadlock at the stroke of half-time through Nguyen Quang Hai as the 2018 AFF Cup champions added three points to the one they had collected against Thailand in a 0-0 draw on Matchday One.

It was Malaysia's second consecutive defeat after having fallen 2-1 to United Arab Emirates on Matchday Two, having opened their campaign with a 3-2 win over Indonesia.

Kim Shin-wook starred with four goals, Son Heung-min fired two while Hwang Hee-chan and Kwon Chang-hoon added one each as Korea Republic ensured their bid to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 progresses smoothly, having defeated Turkmenistan 2-0 in their opening tie last month.

For Sri Lanka, it was their third consecutive defeat, having fallen to Turkmenistan (2-0) and DPR Korea (1-0) in September.