The two had settled for a 1-1 draw in Sunday's meeting and needed wins to stay in sight of a place in the 2020 Finals, with Iraq defeating Pakistan 3-0 and Kuwait triumphing by the same margin against Oman.

The win took Kuwait to the top of the standings on seven points, having defeated Pakistan 2-1 in their opening match. Palestine are second on six, with a match in hand, while Iraq's tally from two matches is four.

Palestine, who defeated hosts Oman 1-0 on Friday, beat Pakistan 5-1 while Kuwait and Iraq took a point each after a 1-1 draw.

Iraq will play Pakistan on Tuesday while Kuwait will face Oman at the Seed Sports Stadium.

Kuwait came from behind to defeat Pakistan 2-1 while Palestine edged hosts Oman 1-0 at the Seeb Sports Complex in Muscat.

Qatar, Islamic Republic of Iran, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Australia, Korea Republic, Japan and Indonesia joined hosts Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, who emerged Group C winners in October with a perfect record of three wins, following the conclusion of nine qualifying groups on Sunday.

The complete cast will, however, be finalised at the end of November when Group A concludes on November 30.

The group hosts had goalkeeper Yousef Abdullah to thank for their success, after his brilliant penalty save denied Yemen’s Mohammed Abdulwahab Al Thulaia a would-be winner late in the second half.

Yemen’s haul of seven points gives them a chance to qualify as one of the four best second-place finishers, while Turkmenistan, who beat Sri Lanka 4-2 in the early match, finished third.

The Central Asians, who qualify automatically as hosts of the 2020 Finals, were a goal and a man down at half-time, but they found an unlikely equaliser through Jasurbek Jaloliddinov to finish second on goal difference on seven points.

Earlier, Afghanistan rounded out their campaign with an impressive 3-0 victory against India.

Australia finished on seven points, as did Laos, but the Young Socceroos finished top on goal difference.

Laos defeated Macau 6-0 on Sunday.