Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Pekanbaru: Australia were battered 5-0 by Japan in the final Group E matches on Sunday but managed to qualify by an inch for the AFC U-22 Championship 2013 finals as the group runners-up.
Singapore, who also had a chance to qualify for the finals as runners-up on the condition that they beat already eliminated Indonesia with a healthy goal difference, failed to make this come true on Sunday as they lost to the Indonesians 2-0, thus handing over the finals ticket to the Australians.
Playing without pressure, the Blue Samurai had already qualified for the finals as the group leaders clashed with the Australians while in the group’s other match, newcomers Timor Leste handed a 4-1 defeat to Macau.
Gakuto Notsuda scored a brace (18, 54mins) for the Land of the Rising Sun with Takuya Iwanami (31mins), Daiki Watari (45+2mins) and substitute Ryuji Hirota (77mins) each added one to the tally. Agung Supriyanto (66min penalty) and Fandi Eko Utomo were on target for the Indonesians while Timor Leste’s Marcos Da Conceicao Jesus registered a triple (22, 30, 62mins) with team mate Henrique Cruz putting in number four after 54 minutes. Macau’s solitary goal was contributed by Chao Wai Fong (45+1mins).
The conclusion of Group E on Sunday completed the qualifiers for the continent’s second biggest national team championship after the AFC Asian Cup with the winners and runners-up of Groups A, B, C, D, F and G already having qualified for the finals which will take place on 11-26 January 2014.
Group B's final results
Japan: 15 points
Australia: 10 points
Indonesia: 9 points
Singapore: 7 points
Timor Leste: 3 points
Macau: 0 points