Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Vientiane: A solitary goal was enough to end Timor Leste’s perfect start to AFC U-16 Championship 2016 qualifiers as Malaysia went top of the table with a 1-0 victory while hosts Laos also made it two-wins-out-of-two with a 5-0 defeat of the Northern Marian Islands as Group G continued on Wednesday.
Confidence was high in the Timorese camp after big wins over the Northern Mariana Islands (8-0) and the Philippines (9-0) put them in pole position with a 100% record ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with the Malaysians, who outlined their qualification credentials when they kicked-off their campaign with a 13-0 triumph over the Pacific Ocean islanders.
Nothing separated the two sides until the 79th minute when Malaysia skipper Arif Shaqirin scored the only goal of the game at the National Sports Complex Stadium in the Laos capital to deny Timor Leste a hat-trick of wins.
In Group G’s other fixture host Laos consigned the Northern Mariana Islands to their third successive loss but after the double-digit defeat to Malaysia Kiyoshi Sekiguchi’s young charges should considerably more resolve and emerged with a great deal of credit after holding the home side to a goalless draw in the first half.
Xayyaphon Sengsavang broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute with the first of an eight minute hat-trick and after the forward had scored again in the 56th and 61st minutes, Boualapha Chaleunsok made it 4-0 in the 79th minute before Thatthaya Phoutthavong sealed the win two minutes later.
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.