Fifa World Cup qualifying debut win for world's bottom-ranked team

Bhutanese players celebrate the victory over Sri Lanka in their 2018 World Cup qualifier in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo / AP

FIFA's lowest-ranked team won on the first day of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.

Bhutan, ranked 209th by the governing body of world soccer, beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in Colombo on Thursday as Asian qualifying began. Tshering Dorji scored the lone goal six minutes from fulltime.

Also, host India defeated Nepal 2-0 at Guwahati with striker Sunil Chhetri scoring two second-half goals but also missing a penalty.

At Doha, Yemen beat Pakistan 3-1 on goals from Abdulwasea Al Matari, Mohammed Boqshan and Ala Al Sasi. For Pakistan, Hassan Bashir was the scorer.

Brunei beat host Taiwan 1-0 at Kaohsiung on a first-half goal from Adi Bin Said.

East Timor and Cambodia were also among the winners. Chiquito do Carmo scored twice in the first half as East Timor beat Mongolia 4-1 in Dili, while Cambodia defeated Macau 3-0 in Phnom Penh.

The second-leg matches will be on Tuesday, with the winners advancing to the second round, as well as the next round of qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup.