Al Khatib announced the end of his playing days on his Twitter account, saying: “After 26 years which I can never forget, I announce my complete retirement as a player and hopefully, the future will be better.”

The 36-year-old forward's announcement came just days after Syria national team head coach Fajr Ibrahim had said that Al Khatib does not feature in his plans any more.

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.

Enad, 49, has temporarily replaced Croatian Romeo Jozak who was sacked following Kuwait's 3-0 defeat to Australia on Matchday Two of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

That defeat came after Kuwait had opened their campaign with a resounding 7-0 win over Nepal, a result which sees them on top of the Group B standings.

Returning to the job he previously held from 2010 from 2012 following the dismissal of Argentina Hector Cuper earlier this month, Abramov will get to know his new charges in a training camp starting on Wednesday, with the group to be cut to 23 before the White Wolves face Yemen eight days later.

Son Heung-min leads the Korea squad, who will play Sri Lanka and DPR Korea in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian Qualifiers but Jae-ik's inclusion is based on his performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019.

Korea Republic emerged runners-up after a phenomenal performance and Bento has obviously marked Jae-ik, who plays for Qatar's Al Rayyan, as a future national team stalwart.

"I felt that this was the right time for him to join the senior team and show us what he has. We have a lot of depth in his position (at centre-back). He'll not be guaranteed playing time, but we'll see how competitive he can be against national team veterans," said Bento.

A first half brace from Abahani Limited Dhaka stiker Nabib Newaj Jibon gave Bangladesh a two-goal cushion before goals from Biplo Ahmed and substitute Rabiul Hasan in the second half put the game beyond Bhutan's reach.

The Japanese tactician has named a 23-man squad with the inclusion of Geylang International midfielder Firdaus Kasman and 16-year-old Hougang United winger Farhan Zulkifli in the squad.