China PR, meanwhile will be hoping Guam - without a point after six matches - can do them a favour by denying Syria to give Li Tie's side hope of finishing top in the group, the only option to book a confirmed berth in the third round of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Mahmoud Al Mawas scored a hat-trick – which included two penalties – as the Syrians notched up their sixth win in a row in Group A to stand eight points clear of second-placed China PR.

That result means a win over Guam on Monday in Sharjah will be enough to qualify the Syrians for the next phase of the preliminaries and also earn them a berth at the Finals of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

With Lebanon defeating Sri Lanka earlier in the day, the pressure was on Korea Republic to produce at Goyang Stadium but the result never seemed in doubt from the moment Hwang – who arrived in his homeland on the back of a strong season with Bordeaux – headed the hosts in front in the ninth minute.

Despite their dominance it took until the stroke of half-time for Nam Tae-hee to add a second before goals from Kim Young-gwon, Kwon Chang-hoon and a cheeky second from Hwang rounded off a win that took the Koreans back to the Group H summit.

The Cedars went into the game level on points with Group H leaders Korea Republic and knowing a win could secure a top-two finish, but were dealt a blow when they fell behind to Waseem Razeek's early goal.

Lebanon's response was swift, however, and they went into the interval 3-1 up after Joan Oumari bagged a brace and Mohamad Kdouh also netted. Sri Lanka pulled one back through Razeek's penalty just after the hour, but the West Asians held out to move onto 10 points from four matches.

Ali Mabkhout put the UAE in the lead midway through the opening half after a fine Abdullah Ramadan long pass set him up. An extended spell of Malaysian resilience was broken by three further Emirati goals in the final 10 minutes of the game, with Mabkhout adding a second and Fabio Lima also registering a brace.

Ali Gholizadeh opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, before Vahid Amiri and Karim Ansarifard scored in the 61st and 84th minutes to put the match beyond doubt, but Hong Kong displayed their fighting spirit to pick up a consolation goal through Matt Orr’s header.

Abdel Aziz Hatim scored the only goal on the night as Qatar moved to 19 points from seven matches while India remained on three points, having played six games.

Second-placed Oman are on 12 points, with two matches in hand, and Qatar will seal top spot in Group E if they avoid defeat when the two sides meet on Monday.