Timor-Leste moved to the verge of a place in the group phase of the ASEAN Hyundai Cup™ 2026 on Tuesday with a comprehensive 3-0 win over 10-man Brunei in the first leg of their qualifying playoff at Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium.

João Rangel gave the visitors the lead in the 27th minute with Zenevio Mota doubling the advantage from the penalty spot two minutes before the interval after Haziq Kasyful Azim was sent off.

And Oatnasio da Silva boosted his side’s qualification hopes ahead of next Tuesday’s second leg in Kuala Lumpur two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game with a close range finish.

Timor-Leste went in front when Claudio Osorio spied Rangel unmarked and in space on the shoulder of the Brunei defence, the midfielder sliding a pass through for his team mate to bend a right-foot shot around Brunei goalkeeper Haimie Abdullah Nyaring to score.

With two minutes remaining in the half Timor-Leste doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.

Haziq’s off-the-ball clash with Zenevio was initially missed by referee Ahmad A’Qashah but the Singaporean awarded a spot-kick to the Timorese and showed the Brunei defender the red card after checking the pitch-side monitor.

Zenevio stepped up to convert the penalty, waiting until Haimie had moved to his left before stroking his penalty into the other side of the goal.

Rangel was inches away from his second of the game three minutes after the restart when he launched a long-range strike that clipped the frame of the Brunei goal while Haimie needed to push Luis Figo’s goal-bound effort over the bar four minutes later.

Brunei thought they had been given a way back into the game when A’Qashah awarded the home side a penalty in the 65th minute when the ball appeared to strike Cruz on the arm, but the referee overturned his original decision following another review.

Timor-Leste compounded the disappointment for their hosts in the dying moments when Oatnasio slammed in Figo’s layoff to move closer to a place in Group A alongside defending champions Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia.

The group phase kicks off on July 24.

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