March 13 – Bhutan, the world’s worst international team according to FIFA rankings, defied their lowly status by securing a shock 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in their World Cup qualifying debut as the Asian zone kicked off for places in Russia in 2018.
Amidst huge celebration, Tshering Dorji scored the only goal of the match in the 84th minute for the tiny Himalayan nation, ranked last of the 209 teams in FIFA’s rankings.
“It’s a very happy moment for my life. It was moment that I have been waiting for … it was a precious moment to score, and it was a perfect moment to score the goal,” Dorji said.
To put the performance into perspective, Bhutan were once thrashed 20-0 by Kuwait and had only three previous wins to their name. In their last international they were beaten 5-2 by Sri Lanka but remarkably turned the tables – and away from home.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter described the result as “a wonderful, historic moment” on Twitter.
Sri Lanka’s head coach, Nikola Kavazovic, said his team, 36 places higher, paid for taking Bhutan lightly but was confident they could overturn the deficit in the return leg on Tuesday.
“They were a better team and they deserve to win,” said the Serb. “We thought the Bhutani team [were] going to be easy but the things were totally different on the field. I’m still convinced that we are going to win the second stage.”
Mongolia, whose federation president Ganbold Buyannemekh was banned by FIFA last October for taking bribes, also suffered an embarrassing loss. Lowly East Timor beat the Mongolians 4-1 to register their first ever World Cup qualifying success.
The victory was only the fourth since 185th-ranked East Timor , also known as Timor-Leste, became a FIFA member in 2005 and such was the excitement in the Portuguese-speaking nation that a big screen was erected outside the Municipal Stadium for fans who couldn’t get their hands on one of the 10,000 tickets on sale.
East Timor’s Chiquito do Carmo wrote his name into the history books by striking after seven minutes for the first goal of the entire 2018 global qualifying campaign.
“This is a very historical moment for sporting life in Timor,” said FFTL president Francisco Lay. “If we qualify for the second round, it will be a great honour for our country, players and the federation.”
The two-legged tie against Mongolia will conclude next Tuesday in very different conditions and Lay added: “It doesn’t matter if Timor win, or Mongolia win, the most important thing is that football wins.”
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