Isa Town: 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 evening to book his side’s place in the finals of next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic.
Goalkeeper Amin Al Bukhari saved twice in the shootout as the Saudis won 6-5 following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes of normal and extra-time could not separate the sides and Al Shehri secured the country’s first qualification for the world championship since 2011.
“It was a good game, as we expected before kick-off,” said Al Shehri. “It was tough and there were some things we were focusing on in defence and in attack. We couldn’t win in 90 minutes and it went to penalties but we’re all happy after the shootout.
“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.
“We have a good team and it will be good for Saudi Arabia for us to come back to the top of Asia and to be one of the continent’s best youth teams.”
After a goalless first half, two goals in four minutes looked set to give Saudi Arabia the win in regular time when Rakan Al Anaze and Abdulrahman Al Yami netted for Al Shehri’s team, but close range strikes from Sajjad Hussein and Mazin Fayyadh saw the Iraqis fight back.
Extra time ended without any further scoring and the game went into a shootout, with Al Bukhari saving from Ali Hussein on the first spot kick, only for captain Sami Al Naji to miss Saudi Arabia’s fifth kick to take the game into sudden death.
Awn Al Saluli then scored the winning penalty after Safaa Hadi saw his attempt saved by Al Bukhari in the seventh round to leave the Saudis celebrating having secured their ticket for Korea Republic 2017.
MATCH REPORT
“I think in the first 25 minutes we weren’t concentrating, but then we started to play better. In the second half we were more focused and I thought we were the better team in the second half and in extra time,” said Iraq coach Abbas Atiyah.
“We knew from the information that we had that Saudi Arabia were a very good team, in midfield and down the sides and we tried to stop their positive points, their strong points and focus on our strong points. I thought we were the better team, but the Saudis were very good.
“We had prepared the list of penalty takers before the game and the players were ready psychologically and physically. We asked them if they were ready and they said they were. I’m proud of my players, especially because the preparation only lasted 10 days. Some of the teams here prepared for more than one year and I’d like to thank everyone.”
Photo: AFC
Source: the-afc.com