On a night of high drama at the Singapore National Stadium, Faris struck to ensure his side a point after Yemen’s Abdulwasea Al Matari and Mohsen Hasan had replied to Ikhsan Fandi’s early goal for the hosts.

Under the watchful gaze of recently installed head coach Tatsuma Yoshida, Singapore began brightly with Yemen goalkeeper Salem Saeed reacting superbly to keep out captain Hariss Harun’s seventh minute drive.

With Singapore continuing to dominate, Saeed was forced into action once again shortly after, this time denying Faris with yet another excellent stop.

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.

Syria had come into the Group A tie after a difficult 2019 WAFF Championship and the Philippines had been confident of taking the three points in a meeting between two teams who had been part of the cast at the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 earlier this year.

Instead, it was the West Asians who took full points as they recovered from going behind in the sixth minute to power past the Philippines.

Baha Faisal and Ahmad Sameer had given the Jordanians a two-goal cushion by the halftime break on a rain-soaked pitch before Weh Chih-hao’s strike for Chinese Taipei ensured a nervous final nine minutes plus stoppage time before Jordan confirmed their opening win in Group B.

Heavy rain over the preceding two days made the pitch at the Taipei Municipal Stadium a challenge for both sides, but Borkelmans’ side brushed those difficulties aside to take a two-goal lead into the half-time break.

Both sides had targeted a winning start in their Group C tie but cancelled each other out in a match which saw both goals being scored in the first half.

Dulguun’s goal in the 17th minute was enough to see off a Myanmar side that played out the final quarter of the game with 10 men after Maung Maung Lwin was sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving Mongolia to pick up a landmark victory.

The tie was a rematch of when the two teams met in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 last January with Lebanon securing a 4-1 win over the East Asians.

However, DPR Korea had gathered a steady momentum coming into the Qualifiers after emerging champions in the 2019 Intercontinental Cup two months ago.