Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tehran: Laos coach Han Hyong-il praised his boys’ overall controlled football in their famous 2-1 win over Yemen on Wednesday.
Already out of the contention from the knock-out stages, Laos also dumped Yemen out with their first win after the tournament became AFC U-16 Championship from 2008.
An own goal from Yemen’s Ala Addin put Laos on 1-0 lead in the 12th minute but Mohammed Al Dahi brought the match at level for Yemen just before the break. Striker Kettavong Armisay scored the winner for Laos in the 69th minute.
“We are still sad of what happened against Kuwait,” Hyong-il recalled their match against Kuwait in which they failed to hold on to two-goal lead and succumbed to a late winner from Kuwait.
“But those two matches earlier taught our boys to remain mentally strong and today you can see they were composed and played brilliantly to win the match comfortably,” he said.
“Now it’s time for the Laos Football Federation to groom these guys for the U-19 level and then think about stepping in the national team,” he said.
Yemen coach Amin Al Sunami cited players’ nervousness at the big occasion as the reason for defeat.
“We gave two gifts to Laos and they wholeheartedly took those,” he said sarcastically. “We were never at our best today and probably it’s because we had purpose in the match unlike Laos who did not have anything to lose, there were clear lack of concentration in our camp,” he said.
“At the moment I don’t know what’s up there for these kids but there are few talented players in the squad and they could be good professional footballer in future,” a visibly dejected Al Sunami said.
Iran topped Group A while Kuwait finished runners-up with Laos and Yemen packing bags early.