A brace apiece for Sardor Rashidov and Igor Sergeev coupled with Odil Akhmedov’s early opener saw Samvel Babayan’s charges add to last week’s 1-0 win over Yemen and move to within three points of DPR Korea who they were beaten by in their first game

The result, meanwhile, sees the Azkals lose for the first time and slip to third following earlier successes against both Bahrain and Yemen.

Uzbekistan made a lightening start to the game and were ahead after only 44 seconds, Akhmedov firing home past Neil Etheridge courtesy of a neat drive from the edge of the penalty area.

Rashidov extended Uzbekistan’s lead with a curling shot on 14 minutes, before Sergeev having been found by Anzur Ismailov registered his first of the night two minutes before the break.

Javier Patino then missed a glorious chance to pull one back for the hosts, only to see Sergeev notch his second and Uzbekistan’s fourth with a firm header on 65 minutes.

Stephan Schrock did manage to score for the Philippines moments later, but Rashidov was on hand to complete the scoring with his second of the game with ten minutes of the fixture remaining.

The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.