Duo back to boost Joeys

Australia, who celebrated a 3-1 opening day win over Saudi Arabia, have been boosted by the return of two players from suspension.

TASHKENT – Australia coach Martyn Crook is boosted by the return of Marc Warren and Benjamin Kantarovski from suspension for Tuesday’s AFC U-16 Championship Group C meeting with fellow opening day winners China.

The Joeys produced a dominant display of attacking football to down a dangerous Saudi Arabia side 2-1 in Sunday’s opener and Crook will be faced with a welcome selection dilemma as Australia look to take a step towards a quarter-final berth at Pakhtakor Stadium.

“We have got a couple of guys who were suspended who will come into the calculations so it is good to have fresh legs coming into the team,” he said.

“There is not a lot of time between the games so we have to get straight back into it. It will be a big task against China so we will just take it one game at a time.”

China needed a late goal from Guo Yi to edge out Turkmenistan 2-1 despite dominating the contest, but coach Zhang Ning is confident his side will settle in time to face Australia.

“It was very difficult against Turkmenistan, there was a lot of pressure on the players, but as the tournament progresses they will learn to handle it and that will allow them to play better,” said Zhang.

“We created a lot of chances against Turkmenistan and we need to start taking them.”

Turkmenistan coach Amanklych Kochumov will hope the return of influential striker Vahyt Orazsahedov, who missed the defeat to China through suspension, will provide a much-needed boost to his side for the meeting with Saudi Arabia.

Team captain Orazsahedov scored four goals as Turkmenistan finished third in their qualifying group, which was won by hosts Uzbekistan.

“Vahyt will be back, while we should have a few other players back to full fitness,” he said.

“The game against China was our first experience of the championship and we will be able to improve and relax for the next game.”

Saudi Arabia will look to get their tournament back on track after struggling defensively against Australia’s high power attacking style.

“We will try and work on the psychological side and hopefully help the players forget the defeat and keep their heads high,” said coach Joaquim “Kika” Filho.

“Hopefully we will play better against Turkmenistan and get the three points and keep up our challenge for a place in the quarter-finals.”

Source:The AFC.com

BHR 3-0 SIN: Zouaoui dissatisfied despite win

Bahrain coach Hosni Zouaoui was not happy with his players' performance against Singapore even though they emerged 3-0 victors

TASHKENT – Bahrain coach Hosni Zouaoui was not satisfied despite his side's 3-0 win against Singapore in their second Group A match of this year's AFC U16 Championship at Pakhtakor stadium on Monday.

Bahrain had a 1-0 lead in the first half thanks to a long-range strike from Salman Ahmed before Sayed Dhiya Saeed and Dheya Salman scored in the second half to seal their side’s win.

"Personally, I'm not happy with the result because we should have scored more than three goals," said the Tunisian coach. "The players were over-confident in the match and that's why they couldn't add more goals.

"We should have had a better result. Our players tried to finish the chances so quickly and they lost their concentration after scoring the third goal and they couldn't add more goals.

"We have defeated Singapore in a previous match and that's why the players underestimated them. I warned the players to have a serious performance but they didn't as they were satisfied with their performance in the first game."

On the contrary, Singapore’s Japanese coach Kageyama Masanaga was pleased with the improved performance of his side after they lost 7-0 in their first match against hosts Uzbekistan.

"We lost the first match 7-0 against Uzbekistan where were missing eight players," said Masanaga. "I'm happy that I had all my players today and our players showed a good mentality after the shock of the first match.

"In the first half, I asked the players not to rush and to play calmly. I told them that chances will come but they continued with their quick play and they lost the ball easily.

"It was an open game from both sides today as both teams had chances to score.

"However, we couldn't score from the chances that we had while Bahrain scored three.

"Bahrain scored two goals in the second half because of our defensive mistakes which came due to lack of communication between our players, but we have to accept that as this is what we have."

Source:The AFC.com

BHR 3-0 SIN: Bahrain off the mark

Singapore keeper Ng Jia Fa claims the ball in the Cubs' AFC U-16 Championship clash with Bahrain.

TASHKENT – Bahrain registered their first win in this year's AFC U-16 Championship with a 3-0 victory against Singapore in their second Group A match at Pakhtakor Stadium on Monday.

Salman Ahmed gave Bahrain the lead just four minutes before the end of the first half while Sayed Dhiya Saeed doubled their advantage on 57 minutes before Dheya Salman scored his side’s third goal with 15 minutes remaining.

Both sides made a slow start before Singapore had the first chance in the game after 17 minutes when Muhammad Muhaymin shot wide from just inside the area.

On 21 minutes, Muhammad Fazli tried his luck with a long range effort which went near the right upright just three minutes before Bahrain’s Ali Muneer sent the ball over the crossbar at the other end.

Saeed’s run through the middle of the Singapore penalty area on the half hour mark unleashed Mohamed Adel but, with only Ng Jia Fa to beat, he could only fire into the body of the Singapore goalkeeper.

Singapore were denied by the woodwork on 33 minutes when Muhaymin beat Abdulla Khalifa to the ball before shooting past Bahrain goalkeeper Ahmed Abdulrasool, but the ball slammed against the right post.

Bahrain, however, took the lead four minutes before the break when Ahmed unleashed a powerful effort from 40-yards out which seared into the top left corner of Ng’s goal.

The Bahrainis continued to push at the start of the second half and by the 57th minute they had gone further ahead when Saeed picked up a loose ball and played a neat one-two with Ahmed Isa inside the area before slotting home.

Singapore tried to fight back and they went close in the 72nd minute when Muhaymin headed the ball over Bahraini goalkeeper Ahmed Abdulrasool but Abdulla Khalifa cleared off the line.

However, Bahrain put the result beyond doubt when Salman took advantage of a poor clearance from Kenneth Chang to go into the area, round Ng and score into an empty net with 15 minutes remaining.

Bahrain could have added a fourth four minutes from time when Hussain Jalil’s free kick from the left his the right post while Ng’s quick reaction save denied Jalil in the final minute of the game.

Source:The AFC.com