Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Al Ain: The final qualifying group for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship got underway on Saturday with Jordan easing to a 5-0 win over Pakistan at the Al Qattara Stadium.
Group B of the qualifiers was originally scheduled to be played back in March only for the venue to shift to the UAE due to the security situation in Lahore following the troubles in the Youhanabad area of the city and the change of locale did de facto hosts Pakistan no favours at all, with Mahmoud Al Mardi putting Jordan 1-0 up with the first of his double.
Saleh Ibrahim, who had helped Al Wehdat to a 4-0 win over Al Nahda in the final group stage match of the 2015 AFC Cup four days earlier, added a second in the 23rd minute to give the Jordanians a two-goal cushion to take into the interval.
Pakistan held out for almost 20 minutes of the second half with Al Mardi extending Jordan’s advantage in the 64th minute before substitute Laith Al Bashtawi made it 4-0 two minutes later, having only just replaced Ehsen Manel Hadad in the 62nd minute.
And Al Bashtawi, a team-mate of Saleh Ibrahim’s at Al Wehdat, completed the scoring with his second and Jordan’s fifth in the 79th minute as Jamal Abu Abed’s side made a confident start in their quest to qualify for Qatar 2016.
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 15 qualifiers for Qatar 2016 will be complete following the conclusion of Group B on May 20.
Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan make up the remaining qualification hopefuls with Group B reduced to four teams following the withdrawal of Turkmenistan.