AFC Asian Qualifiers
Aleksandr Mischenko thumped a left-foot strike from distance beyond Meshaal Barsham to put the Central Asians on front with eight minutes remaining and Alimardon Shukurov put the result beyond doubt with a neat finish three minutes into injury time.
Those goals came after Valeriy Kichin’s opener in first half injury time had been cancelled out by Lucas Mendes in the 52nd minute, two minutes before the defender was sent off to leave the AFC Asian Cup holders shorthanded.
The win was Kyrgyz Republic’s second in the third phase of the preliminaries and moves Lisitskin’s side onto six points from eight matches, four adrift of the fourth-placed Qataris with two games remaining.
Mishchenko had headed wide in the 10th minute for the hosts while Shukurov could have done better three minutes later when he pulled his effort wide of Barsham’s left post as the home side made a strong start.
Qatar had rarely threatened despite dominating the possession but could have taken the lead in the 28th minute.
Naji Hussein raced into the penalty area before cutting the ball back towards Almoez Ali but the striker, returning to the team after missing the 5-1 win over DPR Korea on Thursday, thumped his rising shot inches over the bar.
Barsham was left motionless with three minutes remaining of the opening half as Kyrgyz Republic went closest to going in front. Shukurov’s strike from distance came out of nothing and the goalkeeper could only watch as it crashed against his crossbar.
Moments later the Qatar goalkeeper was beaten. Kichin’s low free kick was curled towards goal and, while Kozubaev moved in the direction of the ball, no one made contact as the delivery bounced past Barsham.
Kyrgyz Republic’s lead was to only last until the seventh minute of the second half as Akram Afif’s corner unlocked the home defence, the AFC Player of the Year landing his set-piece on the head of Ahmed Suhail and his flick clipped Mendes on its way past Erzhan Tokotaev.
Moments later Qatar’s hopes suffered a serious blow as Mendes was dismissed for a high follow-through when he tackled Kai Merk.
Both sides pushed for the winner, with Ali thrashing his shot straight at Tokotaev with nine minutes remaining before Mischenko netted, sending a curling shot high into the net over Barsham’s outstretched hand.
Shukurovi then put the result beyond doubt with a low left-foot finish to complete a famous win for Kyrgyz Republic.
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