Joeys skipper Brendan Hamill clears the danger during Australia's 2-1 win over China.TASHKENT – Kamal Ibrahim’s second-half strike ensured Australia maintained their perfect record at the AFC U-16 Championship after edging out China 2-1 in Group C on Tuesday.
First-half penalties from Australia’s Jared Lum and China’s Jin Jingdao left the tight contest at Pakhtakor Stadium, level at half-time but Ibrahim struck five minutes after the break to secure all three points for Martyn Crook’s Joeys, handing China their first defeat ahead of the final round of group games on Thursday.
Stephen Domenici, who scored twice in the win over Saudi Arabia, hooked a volley wide after eight minutes as Australia edged the opening exchanges with China restricted to several long-range efforts.
Eight minutes later Australia opened the scoring as Nikola Stanojevic was bundled over on the edge of the area by a clumsy challenge from Zheng Kaimu as he cut in from the left and Lum converted the resulting spot kick.
China were almost handed an equaliser four minutes later as a long ball forward caused hesitation between goalkeeper Robert Kolak and defender Brendan Hamill, but Jiang Xiaochen nudged his effort wide after beating goalkeeper and defender to the ball.
Four minutes before the break China were unlucky not to equalise as Shi Ke’s 30-yard pilldriver had Kolak well beaten but rattled the crossbar.
But in first-half stoppage time China were back on level terms as Jin converted from the spot after being brought down by Kolak as he attempted to round the Australia goalkeeper following Jiang’s defence-splitting through ball.
Kolak escaped punishment as Hamill had recovered to track back and Jin was heading away from goal as he attempted to evade Kolak’s outstretched arms.
But five minutes after the break Australia regained the lead as Ibrahim cut in from the right and had time and space on the edge of the area to drill his shot past the despairing dive of Zhang Zhengqiang and just inside his left hand post.
China came close to an equaliser five minutes after the hour mark as Jiang’s close range flicked front post effort looked to have evaded Kolak and was heading for the opposite corner, but the Australia goalkeeper hung on with Liu Shangkun looking to pounce on the loose ball.
Zhang Ning’s China pressed in the closing stages, but failed to create a clear cut chance as the Australia defence stood firm despite the loss of captain Hamill for the final 20 minutes.
Sorce:The AFC.com
