Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Jakarta: Second-half substitute Hwang Hee-chan scored a hat-trick as Korea Republic opened their AFC U-19 Championship 2014 qualifying campaign with a 4-0 win over the Philippines on Tuesday.
Park In-hyeok broke the deadlock 27 minutes into the Group G curtain raiser at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium before being replaced after the interval by fellow midfielder Hwang, who scored all the Koreans’ goals in the second-half.
Hwang, who netted a hat-trick against DPR Korea in their opening match of the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship, bagged the first of his treble in Tuesday’s fixture against the Philippines just five minutes after coming on for Park before adding to the tally with further goals in the 71st and 77th minutes to complete the victory.
The winners of the nine groups and the six best runners-up will join hosts Myanmar in next year’s AFC U-19 Championship.