Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Yanji: Park Jeon-gin scored six times as Korea Republic began their quest to reach the AFC U-16 Championship 2016 with an emphatic 17-0 win over Macau while China had a considerably harder time against Chinese Taipei as the Group 1 hosts kicked-off their campaign with a 1-0 win.
China struggled to break down a resilient Chinese Taipei defence until the 78th minute when Chen Rong broke the deadlock at the Yanji People’s Stadium with what transpired to be the only goal of a game that stood in stark contrast to the later fixture at the same venue.
Park Jeon-gin opened the floodgates for the Koreans seven minutes into their one-sided encounter with Macau before scoring three more in the first half (17th, 24th, 39th) and another two after the interval (52nd, 56th) to become leading scorer in the qualifying campaign ahead of Takefusa Kubo, who netted five times as Japan also scored 17 times in their Group K opener against Mongolia.
Fellow forward Shin Sang-whi weighed in with four goals (36th, 41st, 70th, 75th), Lee Dong-ryul hit a hat-trick (31st, 58th, 67th) while Ko Jun-hee netted a brace (10th, 82nd). Also on the scoresheet were second-half substitute Son Jae-hyeok (62nd) and Yu Je-ho (64th) as the two-time AFC U-16 Championship winners opened their campaign in style.
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.