The semi-finalists of the U-19 Football Championship, being held in Bahrain, will battle it out today for a place in the grand finale.
Action-packed matches promise to take place today as Saudi Arabia play Iran in the first semi-final match at 4.15pm at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.
The winner of this game will take on either Vietnam or Japan, who face off at 7.15pm at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The final is scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 30, 5.30pm at the National Stadium.
All four teams also qualified for next year’s Fifa U-20 World Cup in South Korea after reaching the semi-finals earlier in this continental tournament.
Saudi Arabia coach Saad Al Shehri will seek to refocus his team on attempting to lift the AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016 title after seeing off Iraq in a penalty shootout on Sunday.
“Our goal before the start of the tournament was to go step-by-step, to qualify for this round, then to qualify for the Fifa U-20 World Cup and now this has happened. Now we have to focus more on winning this championship,” said Al Shehri.
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“We have a good team and it will be good for Saudi Arabia to come back to the top of Asia and to be one of the continent’s best youth teams.”
On the other hand, Iran coach Amir Peiravani said: “It’s been a long time since the Iranian U-19 team could go to the World Cup, we’ve had good players but we haven’t had the chance to go there. Today, I wanted to change my players’ mentality so we could succeed.”
“This success isn’t just for me, this success is for the coaches who are working with all of the teams in Iran, the U-16s, the U-19s and U-23s at all of the clubs and all over Iran. This success I dedicate to my colleagues who have helped me in this job,” added Peiravani.
Japan coach Atsushi Uchiyama said: “I’m really happy with the players’ performances. We haven’t reached this stage in the last four tournaments, but now we not only passed this stage but the players did really well and we look forward for our next games against Vietnam.”
Vietnam coach Hoang Anh Tuan said: “I am very happy and proud of my players by making history and making it this far. This is the result of a long period of preparation and now we have to prepare for a tough match against Japan.
“We realised that fitness was a problem for them and after 70 to 75 minutes they would tire and start making mistakes. That was what happened today.”