After opening the scoring through Orazsahedov, Turkmenistan went on to ensure all three points at the Colombo Racecourse Ground when Amanov fired home after the break to hand Ante Mise’s charges the ideal start to their latest bid for international success.

The result leaves Turkmenistan occupying second place in the group standings following DPR Korea’s 2-0 win over Lebanon earlier in the day.

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.

Uzbekistan had been the favourites going into the Group D match but Palestine made full use of home ground advantage to secure a vital three points.

Sunil Chhetri had given India a first half lead but the young Rabia Alawi Al Mandhar turned out to be the hero as he scored twice to give Oman the three points.