SUPER-SUB Ahmed Mohammed scored a vital last-minute goal to secure Bahrain their first three points of the Asia Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town last night.
Mohammed came in for Bahrain’s opening goal scorer Mohamed Marhoon in the 82nd minute against Saudi Arabia to give Bahrain a 3-2 win.
Marhon gave Bahrain the lead in the 41th minute of the game after he tried to chip Suadi’s goalkeeper Al Yami. His efforts went off target, but striker Abdulaziz Khalid managed to get to the ball in time.
Khalid, stopping the ball on the line, played a cross back into the penalty area to Marhoon who found no difficulty placing the ball home.
Team captain Mohammed Yusuf managed to double Bahrain’s lead in the second half through a penalty kick in the 49th minute.
Bahrain players now seemed composed, having a two-goal lead. However, it fired back as Rakan Al Anaze managed to grab a goal back for the Saudis in the 56th minute.
Al Anaze made use of a defensive error and picked up a loose ball in the penalty box to launch a shot towards the goal where Habib could not block it.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, Bahrain found themselves in an awkward situation as the referee, Ammar Al Jneibi, pointed to the penalty spot awarding Saudi a penalty kick.
Midfielder Sami Al Naji found no difficulty placing the ball on the left side of the keeper, levelling the scores for Saudi.
As the match went into the dying minutes, coach Abdulaziz Abdo pulled out Marhoon and put in Ahmed in. His substitute did not fail him as Ahmed launched a left-footed shot from outside the penalty box in the 94th minute to give Bahrain their first three points in their journey to claim their first ever AFC under-19 Championship title.
“It is a very important three points. We succeeded in passing the first game and to get the three points,” said Bahrain coach Abdo. “It was important for the players to get into the atmosphere of the championship. We played against a very good team and a good coach. We have played against them before in GCC competitions, so I knew their strong and weak points.”
His Majesty the King’s Representative for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Supreme Council first vice-president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa attended the match.
In the other Group ‘A’ game, South Korea defeated Thailand 3-1 to go top of the group.
A double error from Thailand’s goalkeeper Chakhon Philakhlang gave South Korea the opportunity to take a 2-0 lead.
South Korea’s Jeong Taewook saw his shot blocked in the 13th minute before collecting the rebound himself and putting it into the open net.
Cho Young Wook gave South Korea their second goal in the 40th minute after Philakhlang once again failed to block the shot.
Thailand picked up their game in the second half and managed to pull a goal back through team captain Anon Amornlertsak in the 75th minute.
As Thailand pushed forward in the last minutes of the game to claim an equaliser, a quick counter attack from South Korea saw Kang Jihun on the receiving end to head the ball into the goal.
Tournament action continues today with four matches in Groups ‘C’ and ‘D’ as Qatar begin their title defence against highly-favoured Iran in Group ‘C’ at 7.30pm. In the same group, Yemen challenges contenders Japan at 4pm.
Coach Oscar Moreno is confident that defending champions Qatar can once again impress at the championship Bahrain 2016 as they prepare to take on Islamic Republic of Iran.
“We are pleased to be here and ready to play in this tournament. This group is very balanced and every team has a chance to reach the next round,” said Moreno at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
“This team has no injuries and is physically and mentally ready,” said Iran coach Amir Peiravani. “Qatar, our opponents, are one of the best teams in the competition but we aim to give the best performance we can.”
Today’s Group ‘D’ matches will see North Korea and Vietnam battle it out at 4.30pm and UAE and Iraq face off in a crunch match at 7.30pm.
“I hope it will be a good omen for us to get success in this tournament and the main goal is to qualify for the U-20 World Cup,” said Iraq coach Abbas Atiyah.
UAE coach Jakub Dovalil said: “I think the whole group is a very composed group, each team can qualify for the quarter-finals. Two years ago we were a little unlucky to lose in the quarter-final to Myanmar and we would like not to repeat that”.