Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tabriz: AFC U-16 Championship 2016 hosts India made an impressive start to Group E of the qualifiers with a 5-0 victory over Bahrain while Iran also kicked-off their campaign on a positive note with a 3-1 defeat of Lebanon.
India, who are participating in the qualifiers despite having automatic entry to next year’s finals as tournament hosts, opened the scoring at the Yadegar Emam Stadium after 16 minutes through defender Gaston D’Silva before Aman Chetri doubled the lead just four minutes later with the first of his double.
Boris Singh Thangjam made it 3-0 a minute shy of the half-hour mark as India held a healthy advantage going into the break, which they extended three minutes into the second half when man-of-the-match Chetri scored his second and the South Asians’ fourth.
Bahrain’s hopes of finding their way back into the contest were dealt a blow in the 65th minute when striker Abdulah Salem was sent off for a second bookable offence having been shown the yellow card by Uzbek referee Aziz Asimov just nine minutes earlier.
The ten men of Bahrain held out until the 77th minute when Suresh Singh Wangjam scored what transpired to be the final goal of an impressive show from the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship hosts, whose high-scoring win saw them claim pole position ahead of Iran at the end of Match Day 1.
Iran looked to be well on course to match or even eclipse the number of goals scored in the earlier fixture as Vahid Namadari put the Group E hosts 1-0 up from the penalty spot with just nine minutes gone.
Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi doubed the advantage just three minutes later but Lebanon held out for the remainder of the first half.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with the Iranians flying out of the blocks and took a 3-0 lead through Mohammad Sardani just two minutes after referee Charymurat Kurbanov’s whistle had signalled the resumption of the match.
But that was to be the last time Lebanese keeper Mohammad Zahr would be beaten and indeed it was Ghoulam Ghadar’s side that would have the final say in the scoring stakes with Mahmoud Kaawar netting a consolation for Lebanon with three minutes remaining.
Ten group winners and four best second-placed teams will join DPR Korea, who topped the already concluded Group H, 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.