China and Syria were among the teams to progress in Asia's World Cup qualifying yesterday as crowd trouble forced the abandonment of Oman's game in Myanmar.
China won 6-1 at Laos to complete a 13-3 aggregate victory, and moved into the group stage third round, when the region's heavyweights such as Japan, South Korea and Australia will enter the fray.
In Laos, Chinese midfielders Deng Zhuoxiang and Yu Hanchao scored twice, with Qu Bo and Yang Xu also found the net for the visitors. Visay Phapouvanin scored the lone goal for Laos.
China's comfortable margin of victory over two legs came after Laos had taken a shock 2-0 lead in last weekend's away leg, before being overwhelmed 7-2.
Syria also produced an authoritative 4-0 away win over Tajikistan for a 6-1 aggregate; Kuwait won 2-1 at the Philippines for a 5-1 aggregate and Jordan progressed after a 1-1 draw at Nepal and a 10-1 win over two legs.
In Myanmar, fans threw stones, shoes, water bottles and other objects onto the pitch and at Oman players and officials, forcing a halt to the match with Oman winning 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.
At least one Oman player and one official were struck by objects as dozens of police tried to control the crowd.
The violence came after striker Ismail made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 39th minute, after midfielder Amad Al Hosni put Oman ahead in the 23rd minute.
Oman is expected to progress to the third round and manager Paul Le Guen will continue his quest to get the Gulf nation into its first World Cup.
Tajikistan's match was up for grabs after Syria recorded just a 2-1 home win in the first leg. However Syria soon put the result beyond doubt yesterday as Raja Rafe scored twice in the first half, Nadim Sabagh made it 3-0 and a late own goal completed a comfortable victory.
Jordan was never going to be threatened by Nepal after a 9-0 home win in the first leg. Saeed Morja made it 10-0 on aggregate but Nepal was able to salvage a draw and some pride thanks to a late goal by 41-year-old Bharat Khawas.