Admitting that the tie could have gone either way, Stimac said India's first victory under his reign was due to excellent defending by the South Asians.

“Today's result was a result of excellent defending. That was fantastic.

“I was a defender playing at the top level. I can show a few things to the boys, and that’s what we have been doing in the last two weeks - explaining things to the players, and working on the pitch," said the Croatian, who assumed his post in May.

SINGAPORE 4-3 SOLOMON ISLANDS

Yoshida, who took charge of Singapore just last week, saw his team take the lead against Solomon Islands in the fourth minute through Faris Ramli's header.

Gagame Feni equalised for the visitors three minutes into the second half and Solomon Islands went ahead 10 minutes later through Andrew Abba.

KOREA REPUBLIC 1-0 AUSTRALIA

Busan: Hwang Ui-jo was the star of the night with his second half goal as Korea Republic defeated Australia 1-0.

A tight first half saw the teams heading into the break level at a packed Busan Asiad Stadium.

Both teams are preparing for the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 Joint Qualification which kicks off in September but Iran were in a class of their own as new head coach Marc Wilmots got off to a winning start.

Richarlison opened the scoring in the 17th minute but Brazil suffered a blow just after as talisman Neymar departed with pain in his right ankle.

Gabriel Jesus added a second goal in the 23rd minute and despite AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar's best efforts, the West Asians couldn't find a way past the Brazil defence.

Japan attacked from the first blow of the whistle but could not find a way past the Trinidad defence and Phillip.

Japan next take on El Salvador at Hitomebore Stadium Miyagi on Sunday before leaving for the Copa America, which gets under way on June 14.

Japan will play in Group C of the Copa America with Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay also in the fray. Asian champions Qatar will play in Group B with Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay to contend with.

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.