Jakarta Casual

Lebanon v Kuwait 0-1 (Yousef Naser) 15,215

When Lebanon apppointed Montengran Miodrag Radulovic as their new coach for the World Cup/Asian Cup Qualifiers they would have hoped they were hiring not just an experienced coach but someone with the inside track on Kuwait, another nation in their group. Radulovic had been enticed from Al Jahra in the Kuwaiti Premier League just a few weeks before this opening game on the road to Russia/UAE but it was one of his former players from an earlier stint at Kazma who came back to haunt him right at the death.

Things started brightly for the Lebanese. Roared on by a near full house they probed and pressed, going close on a number of occassions. But, and cue the cliche this is football, the more chances they spured the more likely it would be the visitors who would nick the points.

And so it proved. A long hopeful punt forward caused uncertainty in the home side's defence with both defender and goalkeeper committed. 24 year old substitute striker Yousef Naser, who plays for Kazma, took advantage of the uncertainty to score the only goal of the game with just four minutes remaining.

Malaysia v Timor Leste 1-1 (Safee Sali; Ramon de Lima Saro) 5,000

It was to be a night of late goals. Safee Sali had given Malaysia the lead in the first half but Timor Leste, led by Yousef Naser's strike partner at Kazma in the Kuwaiti Premier League Patrick Fabiano, proved a tough nut to crack with defender Ramon equalising in injury time.

Disappointing crowd as well despite calls on line for fans to fill the stadium.

Malaysia host Palestine next week and will be hoping for a win to get their campaign on track. They will not however be taking much heart from Palestime's battling display against Saudi Arabi in their opener. They may have lost 3-2 defeat came in a heart breaking manner after they had equalised themselves right at the end of the game.

Cambodia v Singapore 0-4 (Khairul Amri, Safuwan Baharudin, Fazrul Nawaz) 63,000

Of course with Singapore due to travel on to Japan for their next qualify you could argue anything other than a win in Phnom Penh was not on the menu. Despite the criticism that follows in the Lions' wake the team knuckled down and did a job in front of a massive crowd at the Olympic Stadium.

And can 2015 get any better for Safuwan? A successful loan spell in Australia with Melbourne City he quickly settled into the Singapore way of doing things and netted a brace here to add to his burgeoning reputation. Surely another move is on the cards?

Unfortunately the winning margin was not enough to put the Lions on top of the group, albeit for a few days. Syria defeated Afghanistan 6-0!