AFC Asian Qualifiers
The Central Asian nation had emerged 2-0 winners when the two sides met in Kaohsiung on Thursday, and they had little difficulty in collecting the three points again at home. A third win on the trot sees Kyrgyz Republic move temporarily top of Group D with nine points while Chinese Taipei remain winless and rooted to the bottom of the group.
The Ghana-born forward opened the scoring after 17 minutes when Erbol Atabayev’s delivery from the corner was nodded on by Odiljon Abdurakhmanov into the path of Kojo who applied the finishing touch from close range to put the hosts in front.
Kojo doubled his tally eight minutes before the break, taking advantage of a Valerii Kichin cross from the right to sweep home from six yards out into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The hat-trick was completed in the last minute of the first half when the 25-year-old broke the offside trap to latch onto a long pass from Eldiyar Zarypbekov and finished past goalkeeper Pan Wen-chieh to send his side into the dressing rooms with a comfortable advantage.
Kojo could have added a fourth quickly after the restart as he broke free down the left and made his way towards the box before pulling a left-footed effort that passed just wide off the crossbar.
Substitute Ernist Batyrkanov was left wondering how he did not score when he was served a low cross from Amantur Shamurzaev on a silver plate, but with the empty net staring him in the face, he ended up sending his finish above the crossbar from five yards.
Coach Stefan Tarkovic’s men further extended their lead with 12 minutes left following a Murolimzhon Akhmedov cross which goalkeeper the Chinese Taipei goalkeeper failed to deal with, allowing Khristiyan Brauzman to convert it home at the far post for 4-0.
Chinese Taipei pulled on back late into the game. Kyrgyz goalkeeper Erzhan Tokotayev tried to stop Yu Yao-hsing who had broken the offside trap and looked to round him, prompting the referee to point to the spot. Wu Yen-shu stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to net his side’s first goal of the qualifier.
There was still time for Kyrgyz Republic to add a fifth goal deep into added time when substitute Kimi Merk repeated his goal scoring exploits from the reverse fixture, rising highest at the far post to head home Akhmedov’s cross from the right.
