Goals galore in Asian World Cup qualifiers

It is a long road to Brazil 2014 for Asia's lesser sides.

Eight round one winners join 22 higher ranked teams - including Thailand and Iran - for home-and-away matches in the second round of the Asian qualifiers, to be played 23-28 July.

The 15 victors from those ties will join Asian giants Japan, South Korea and Australia as well as North Korea and Bahrain in the third round.
Malaysia scraped through despite going down 3-2 to Taiwan in Taipei, with the ASEAN champions squeezing through courtesy of away goals following last week's 2-1 triumph in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysians take on Southeast Asian rivals Singapore in the next round.

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Vietnam star Le Cong Vinh took his haul of goals in qualifying to eight in two games after the three-time Vietnamese footballer of the year followed up his first-leg hat-trick with five goals in the 7-1 hammering away at Macau.

Vietnam face a considerably more daunting tie against Asian Cup hosts Qatar next.

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Philippines meanwhile set up a second round meeting with ten-time Gulf Cup of Nations champions Kuwait after defeating Sri Lanka 4-0 in Manila to sail through with a comprehensive 5-1 aggregate win.

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And in Yangon, Myanmar overcame a first-leg deficit to defeat a resilient Mongolia 2-1 on aggregate. They face Oman in the next stage.

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Laos will play China next after overcoming a two-goal first-leg deficit to progress at the expense of Cambodia after scoring twice in extra-time for a remarkable 8-6 aggregate win over their neighbours.

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Nepal became the first side to book their place in the second round after an emphatic 5-0 win in Kathmandu on Saturday gave them a 7-1 aggregate victory over Timor Leste.

Results of Asian round one qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup (second leg):

Taiwan 3 Malaysia 2
(Aggregate 4-4, Malaysia win on away goals)

Philippines 4 Sri Lanka 0
(Philippines win 5-1 on aggregate)

Macau 1 Vietnam 7
(Vietnam win 13-1 on aggregate)

Myanmar 2 Mongolia 0
(Myanmar win 2-1 on aggregate)

Laos 6 Cambodia 2
(Laos win 8-6 on aggregate)

Palestine 1 Afghanistan 1
(Palestine win 3-1 on aggregate)

Pakistan 0 Bangladesh 0
(Bangladesh win 3-0 on aggregate)

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Marta fires Brazil into women's World Cup quarter-finals

Star forward Marta claimed a brace of goals as Brazil beat Group D rivals Norway 3-0 on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the women's World Cup.

"We're happy to have qualified (for the final eight).... Our quarter-final rivals, Sweden or the United States, will have a lot of problems even if they're strong teams because... we've come here to be world champions," warned Marta of the Brazilians who have never won a world title.

Australia earlier beat Equatorial Guinea 3-2 in Bochum.

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Singapore N-ballers ready to do battle

As the curtains come up on the 2011 Mission Foods World Netball Championships at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, both national netballers Jean Ng and Pearline Chan will be primed for battle as they prepare to take on Group C rivals Botswana in the opening match in front of more than 8,000 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Both teams last met during the Singaporeans' tour of Botswana and South Africa in May, when the Singaporeans were defeated 57-39 by the world No 18 side. At the Nations Cup in 2008, Botswana also scuppered the Republic's hopes of a finals spot with a 54-45 victory in the group stage. This is the nation's second appearance at the world championships, after finishing in 10th spot in Auckland in 2007.

But Singapore coach Kate Carpenter believes that the past month of intensive training and matches will finally allow them to break their duck against the African team.

She said: "We have to be better than them in all areas on court. Following our match with them in April, we have identified the areas within the sub-units, defence, shooting circle and centre, to work on improving our performance. We need to step up and, collectively, improve ourselves as a team so as to give ourselves a realistic chance to beat them."

Netball fans at the 11,000-capacity indoor stadium can also expect a scintillating display of speed, agility and power over the July 3 to 10 world tournament, as 16 of the world's top netball nations battle for the ultimate prize.

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Body retrieved from sea near Vivocity

A body was retrieved from the sea near Vivocity at about 4pm on Sunday.

The police received a call at 3.20pm about a body floating off Harbourfront walk. It is believed to belong to a Malay man in his late 30s.

According to netizen Amelia on citizen journalism website Stomp, the police coast guard fished the body out of the sea and brought it to shore.

She added that it "was all wrapped up".

The man was pronounced dead at 4.20pm by the police.

The case is classified under unnatural death. Police investigations are ongoing.

Photo gallery

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New reservoirs to boost S'pore's water supply

Singapore's water supply received a boost with the opening of the Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs.

This brings the total number of reservoirs in Singapore to 17.

The reservoirs were created by the damming of Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon. Both reservoirs can meet about five per cent of the country's water needs and will collect rainwater from estates and areas within Punggol and Sengkang, as well as parts of Hougang and Ang Mo Kio.

Together with the Marina Reservoir, they increase the water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of Singapore.

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