Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: The match between Australia and Japan in the last match of Group C of the ongoing AFC U22 Championship became the first match of the competition to reach 60 minutes mark as AFC has been promoting the ‘60 Minutes..Don’t Delay, Play! campaign with ranges of activities during this competition in Muscat.
The Japan’s 4-0 thrashing of Australia clocked impressive 64mins 20secs. If the first match of Thursday was record-breaking, the second match between China and Iraq set a new mark with 67mins and 37secs. Iraq continued their hundred per cent record by edging China 1-0 in that fast-paced match played at the Royal Oman Police Stadium.
The other two matches of Group C and D played on the last day of the group stages also produced encouraging results.
The hard-fought Iran’s 3-1 win over Kuwait in the Seeb Sports Stadium almost reached 60 minutes mark as it counted 59mins 29sec APT. Likewise, another tense affair between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia was played for 57mins and 12 secs. Saudi edged the Uzbeks by 1-0.
The average APT of the group stage matches counted 54 mins and 36secs with the Jordan’s 1-0 win over Oman being the less played match with 46mins 19secs.
AFC has targeted to increase the actual playing time of each AFC matches at least to 60 minutes. Different educational workshops for referees and officials as well as promotional activities are ongoing on the sidelines of AFC U-22 Championship in Muscat.