March 18 – Bhutan, officially the world’s worst national team, have pulled off a second straight fairytale victory by defying all the odds – and this time progressed to the second round of Asian World Cup qualifying.
Ranked 209th by FIFA, the tiny landlocked mountainous Himalayan country surrounded by China and India secured a 3-1 aggregate victory over Sri Lanka by winning the second leg of their Asian preliminary first-round tie 2-1, four days after an equally historic 1-0 win in Colombo.
Thrashed 20-0 by Kuwait in an Asian Cup qualifier 15 years ago, it was only their fifth competitive win and they will now take their place in the group stage involving 40 Asian teams.
Both of Bhutan’s second-leg goals were scored by Chencho Gyeltshen (pictured), a 24-year-old who is known as “the Ronaldo of Bhutan.”
Sri Lanka boss Nikola Kavazovic had promised his team would win the second leg, admitting after the first-leg defeat: “Yes, it is embarrassing, losing to the worst team in the world. But I expect we will win the second game. And if we don’t, I will have an unexpected holiday for a few months.”
Joining Bhutan in the next round will be another minnow East Timor who upset Mongolia 5-1 on aggregate.
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