Qatar, who were playing their first international match in 11 months, held their own in the first half which finished 1-1 but found Ghana hard to contain in the second period.

With star striker Eldor Shomurodov absent, Sergeev made the most of his opportunity, scoring in the 48th and 86th minutes before UAE debutant Sebastián Tagliabúe pulled back a goal from the penalty spot in the dying minutes.

Having needed a late goal to salvage a 2-2 draw on Thursday, the senior side turned on the power with three second half goals to see off their compatriots, who had won the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 in January.

In a special video message to participants, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretary, Dato’ Windsor John, said: “The last time the People’s Republic of China hosted the AFC Asian Cup in 2004, it was staged in just four cities. At the time, Asia’s top 16 teams competed in 32 matches, which is a stark difference to the 24 teams who will be competing across 51 matches in 2023.

After the 2020 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19, the-AFC.com launches an AFC Cup Bracket Challenge that features 32 of the greatest goals from the previous decade and ask you, the fans, to vote for your favourities.

Khalilzadeh got the Islamic Republic of Iran champions on the road to a victory they needed to advance to the Round of 16 with his header as Persepolis scored a 4-0 win in their Matchday Six tie.

Check out all the nominees and the poll result at the bottom of the article.

In their first match together since Matchday Six of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 last November, the Samurai Blue were held to a goalless draw by Cameroon on Friday and midfielder Gaku Shibasaki said Japan will have to improve against Côte d'Ivoire.