Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Vientiane: Timor Leste emerged as early pace setters in Group G of the qualifiers for the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship with a 9-0 defeat of the Philippines on Monday, while Malaysia kicked-off their campaign with an even more emphatic 13-0 win over the Northern Mariana Islands in Match Day 2’s earlier fixture.
Having also began their quest to reach next year’s continental youth finals with a big win over the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), the Timorese were back on the goal trail following Saturday’s 8-0 win when Danilson Conceicao Araujo opened the scoring in the 18th minute before making it 2-0 ten minutes later.
Skipper Joao Da Silva Freitas got his name on the scoresheet with seven minutes of the first half still to play giving the Timorese a comfortable three-goal advantage going into the break.
Agostinho Mesquita Martins’ side moved up a gear after the interval and scored six more times with out reply, with Jelito Corte-Real adding number four in the 53rd minute before Araujo completed his hat-trick just 60 seconds later to join Thailand’s Korawich Tasa and Muhammad Izreen - who scored four times in Malaysia’s early win over NMI - as the joint leading-scorer in the early stages of the qualifiers.
The leading trio soon became a top-scoring quartet when Da Silva Freitas took his individual tally to four when he scored Timor Leste’s sixth in the 62nd minute before substitute Filomena Junior Da Costa made it 7-0 with 20 minutes remaining.
Three minutes later Dom Lucas netted number eight and then completed the 9-0 hammering with his third of the campaign with 60 seconds remaining as Timor Leste continued their fine showing in Group G
In the earlier match, Muhammad Izreen lead the way with four goals as Malaysia announced their presence with a 13-0 hammering of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The midfielder opened the floodgates with six minutes gone before going on to find the net again in the 32nd, 54th, and 67th minutes.
Fellow midfielder Muhammad Iqbal Hakem weighed in with a hat-trick with goals in the 41st, 44th, and 56th minutes while of Malaysia’s starting 11 skipper Arif Shaqirin (36th and 46th) and Nor Amirul (22nd) also got their names on the scoresheet.
Substitue Muhammad Alif Safwan got the first of his two galls in the 58th minute, just 60 seconds after coming on to replace defender Muhammad Faris, with the other arriving a minute after the hour mark while fellow substitute Mohamad Najmi - a 70th minute replacement for Muhammad Iqbal Hakem - scored Malaysia’s 13th and final goal of a convincing qualifying opener with a minute left on the clock.
The ten other group winners and four best second-placed teams will join DPR Korea and India in next year’s finals, with the tournament hosts receiving an automatic qualification.
Should India finish top of their qualifying group or among the four best second-placed teams, the fifth best second-placed nation will qualify for the final competition.
With Group H concluded and Group G already underway, the nine other remaining groups all kick off on Wednesday.