Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Yangon: Ha Duc Chinh scored a goal in each half as Vietnam defeated Hong Kong 3-1 in the AFC U-19 Championship 2016 qualifying Group G curtain raiser at the Youth Training Centre, while Timor Leste downed Brunei Darussalam 4-0, with all the goals in Monday’s later fixture coming in the first half.
Defender Duc Chinh opened the scoring in the seventh minute and grabbed his second a minute shy of the hour mark to make it 3-1 to Vietnam, with Nguyen Tien Linh restoring the ASEAN side’s advantage three minutes into the second half after after Hong Kong forward Matthew Ho Shing Yuen had levelled the match three minutes from the half-time break.
Vietnam’s opening win was to be slightly sullied with the sending off of midfielder Duong Van Hao with four minutes remaining but with little time to make the most of their numerical advantage, Hong Kong were unable to add to the scoreline in the remainder of the Group G opener.
Timor Leste took pole position ahead of Vietnam on goal difference after scoring four times without reply in the first half to defeat Brunei 4-0 in the later fixture at the same venue.
Rufino Gama opened the scoring on the quarter-of-an-hour mark before Nelson Viegas doubled Timor Leste’s lead with the first of his two goals four minutes later.
Henrique Cruz made it 3-0 in the 28th minute with midfielder Viegas completing the scoring four minutes later as the Timorese effectively wrapped up their first three points of the qualifiers by the half-time interval.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams).
If Bahrain finish top of their qualifying group or one of the five second best-placed teams, the next (6th) second-placed team will qualify for the final competition.