Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuwait City: Kuwait are through to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals after a brace by Yousef Nasser and a Fahad Shaheen penalty gave the former champions a 3-1 win over Thailand on Tuesday.
Nasser headed his side ahead in the first half and Shaheen converted a penalty early in the second to put the hosts on top at the Kuwait SC Stadium.
Mongkol Thosakrai gave the visitors hope when he pulled back a goal but Nasser restored the two-goal cushion for Kuwait who could even afford a late penalty miss as they coasted to the win which ensured that they will finish second in Group B and qualify for the finals in Australia.
“Despite the good victory today and securing our place in the Asian Cup finals, we still have a lot of things to achieve as the qualification is only the start for a good campaign,” said Kuwait coach Jorvan Vieira.
“We had a good match and we showed a good performance in addition of scoring from the chances that we created throughout the match while we also missed good chances to score more goals.
“We have enough time now to prepare the team for the Asian Cup finals and we will be putting a good plan in order to prepare the team well to be one of the good competing teams in the finals.”
Knowing that a win could send them through, the Kuwaitis dominated the opening half and were rewarded when Nasser put them ahead after 19 minutes.
Jarah Al Ateeqi set up the goal, floating the ball into the box for Nasser to head home despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool to stop the ball.
Kuwait continued to press in the second half with Nasser sending out a warning signal with a powerful shot from outside the box that whistled past the post.
The second would arrive in the 56th minute. Fahad Al Rashidi was fouled by Suttinun Phukhom in the box and Shaheen made not mistake with the resulting penalty as he fired the ball to the left of Sinthaweechai.
Thailand had lost all four of their previous games in the group but they pulled a goal back in the 68th minute when Apipoo Suntornpanavej’s long ball found substitute Mongkol who beat Mesaed Nada to the ball and lobbed it over the goalkeeper to make it 2-1.
But Kuwait would put the game out of reach just three minutes later as a goal-kick by Nawaf Al Khaldi found Nasser whose initial lob was stopped by Sinthaweechai but came right back to the player who headed the rebound in from close range.
With just five minutes left, Kuwait could have added a fourth when they earned a penalty for a foul on Nasser in the box but Ahmad Ajab fired his attempt wide.
“We had a good performance today but Kuwait were better than us physically as they had tall strikers who had an advantage on our defenders and they managed to score three goals and create many chances.
“We had a good performance in the midfield but we were slow in building attacks and we couldn’t create a lot of chances although we managed to score one goal. I believe we need more experience in order to achieve our target and qualify for the Asian Cup finals.”
Photo: AFP