Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Muscat: A hat-trick from captain Hamza Al Daradreh saw Jordan qualify for the quarter-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship as Group A winners on goal difference following a convincing 6-1 win over Myanmar at Royal Oman Police Stadium on Wednesday.
ASEAN representatives Myanmar had made a dream start with their first goal of the tournament as midfielder Maung Maung Soe fired past goalkeeper Mustafa Mosameh with 28 minutes gone.
But after Al Daradreh turned the contest in favour of Jordan with a quickfire double before half-time, Mahmoud Za’tara, substitute Oudi Al Qara and Ahmed Saleh struck in the second half with the captain also completing his hat-trick as Islam Al Diabat’s side eased to victory.
And the heavy nature of the victory meant Jordan edged out Korea Republic at the top of the table due to a superior goal difference, despite the Koreans beating Oman 2-0, to set-up a quarter-final meeting with Group B runners-up the United Arab Emirates at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex on Sunday
“We started today’s match with our main goal as to qualify officially for the quarter-finals. But after the third goal we started going for more goals and first place,” said Jordan coach Al Diabat.
“I was not happy at all at the beginning of the game especially conceding a goal like that, but I was happy with the efforts of the players to score immediately in response.
“We are not only targeting the semi-finals or final, we want to win this tournament.”
It had all began so differently as Myanmar sought to belie their lowly position in Group A with a positive spell right from the start and on the 28th minute the Jordan defence allowed Maung Maung Soe through on goal and the Myanmar midfielder finished emphatically, smashing the ball to the right of Mosameh to cue delirious celebrations amongst his team-mates.
Myanmar’s joy, though, lasted all of 60 seconds as Jordan equalised straight from the restart as Mahmoud Za’tara cleverly worked the ball into the area before laying it at Al Daradreh’s feet and the skipper fired in an unstoppable rising shot past helpless goalkeeper Pyaye Phyo Aung.
Such was the open nature of the game that it was no surprise that three minutes later the scoreline was added to once more, for a second time in Jordan’s favour, as Al Daradreh again sliced through the Myanmar backline before forcing the ball across the goal line at the second attempt despite the best efforts of Pyaye Phyo Aung and Thet Naing who had kept out his initial effort.
The half ended with more bad news for Myanmar as goalscorer Maung Maung Soe’s day went from dream to despair as he limped off after extended treatment on the pitch to be replaced by midfielder Aung Thu.
And eight minutes after the restart, Jordan continued where they had left off by scoring a third goal as substitute Oday Zahran unleashed a swerving strike from over 30 yards out that looked a regulation save for Pyaye Phyo Aung but the unfortunate custodian spilled the shot straight to the onrushing Za’tara who slammed the ball into the top right-hand corner.
With 11 minutes remaining Al Daradreh completed his hat-trick with a low shot from range that flashed past Pyaye Phyo Aung and into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
The beleaguered Myanmar defence then failed to cut out a right-wing cross from Saleh that was met with a smart side-footed finish from substitute Al Qara from six yards out on the 83rd minute.
And Jordan added some gloss to the scoreline as Myanmar were unable to prevent Saleh getting himself on the scoresheet in the final minute of regulation play with a strike from close range after good work from Al Qara and Al Daradreh.
“After the first half I thought something was possible. But the second half was a disaster,” said Myanmar coach Gerd Zeise.
“In the second half it was necessary to change some players for ones without any experience. The result was that we lost any order in the defence area.
"We created some chances but the players had no experience at this level, in Yangon they would have scored those chances.”