Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kaohsiung City: Andrew Hoole scored a hat-trick as Australia punched their ticket to the AFC U-23 Championship 2016 finals after downing Myanmar 5-1 in qualifying on Tuesday.
Hoole, who represented Australia at the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship, the pre-cursor to the U-23 tournament, recorded his first three international goals (10”, 57”, 70”) in the Group F game against Myanmar at the National Stadium in Chinese Taipei.
Jamie MacLaren, who bagged three goals in the Australians’ 6-0 thrashing of Hong Kong in their qualifying campaign opener on March 27, registered a brace (13”, 68”) against Myanmar.
Kaung Sat Naing, a 71st minute replacement for Si Thu Aung, scored the consolation goal for U Kyi Lwin-led Myanmar on 78 minutes.
Aurelio Vidmar’s Young Socceroos finished their qualifying campaign with a perfect record of nine points from three games on Tuesday’s crunch game which relegated Myanmar to second position in the four-team table with six points.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join hosts Qatar at the AFC U-23 Championship 2016, with January’s 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio.
The final group winner and the complete line up of best second-place finishers will only be confirmed after the conclusion of Group B of the qualifiers, which features Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan as well as hosts Pakistan.
Group B was scheduled to take place in Lahore at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium from March 23 to 31 has been postponed due to security concerns following the recent troubles in the Youhanabad area of the city.
A decision on an alternative venue and schedule for Group B will be announced in due course.