Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Bahrain and Lebanon brought the curtain down on their unsuccessful AFC U-23 Championship qualifying campaigns with a goals draw at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Tuesday.
The Lebanese were out of the reckoning going into the final match having lost 4-0 to Oman but a victory would have lifted Bahrain a point above the Group A hosts ahead of their top-of-the-table clash with Iraq later on Tuesday.
But with neither side able to finish with a flourish in the Omani capital it was a case of ‘as you were’ in the Group A standings for the West Asian duo, with the share of the spoils seeing Bahrain finish third in the five team table with five points, one more than fourth-placed Lebanon.
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.