Korea Republic cruise into Finals
Paju: Korea Republic confirmed their appearance in the AFC U-19 Championship 2018 Finals after a perfect 3-0 victory against Malaysia in their final Group F tie at the Paju Stadium on Wednesday.
Korea Republic ended their campaign with a perfect record on four wins while Malaysia will now hope to qualify as one of the best five second-placed sides for next October's Finals in Indonesia.
Malaysia could have taken the lead five minutes into the match but Muhammad Hadi Fayyadh missed the target.
It was to be a costly miss as Korea Republic took the lead in the 11th minute as Um Won-sang’s scored with a header.
The lead was doubled in the 38th minute as midfielder Kim Jung-min scored from the left after receiving a pass from Lim Jae-hyuk.
Cho Young-wook scored from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time to ensure his side advanced to the Finals.
Chung Jung-yong: Korea Republic head coach
“It is hard to cope with defensive teams, since they are all focused on defence, and like to counter attack. However, we trained to handle every situation, and it worked. I have a few points we need to work on and hopefully, we will give a better performance in the Finals.”
Bojan Hodak: Malaysia head coach
“We had a couple of chances in the first half, and missing such opportunities made our game difficult. Korea Republic showed a different level of quality, and we discovered ourselves what needs to be developed.”
Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste ended their campaigns on a high after playing to a 2-2 draw in their final Group F tie at the Paju Stadium in Korea Republic on Wednesday.
Both teams had lost all their previous matches and Wednesday's tie was a chance to end their campaigns with a win.
The opening minutes saw Timor-Leste dominating as they went in search of an early goal and they were rewarded when Danilson Conceicao Araujo found the back of the net with a neat finish in the 13th minute.
Brunei, however, were equally determined and fought back with the equaliser coming through a fine strike by Hariz Herman’s in the 34th minute.
Brunei took the lead in the 55th minute through Mohammad Hanif Aiman Adnan’s flawless finish into the far post.
However, their lead lasted only two minutes, as Araujo (pictured above) converted a spot-kick in the 57th for his second goal of the match.
Takao Fujiwara: Brunei Darussalam head coach
“I am glad we took a point from the last match. One point after three consecutive losses might be a bad result for other teams, but we can still find hope from the draw in the last match.”
Kim Shin-whan: Timor-Leste head coach
“Even though the result of this match had no effect on the qualification, it is highly regrettable that our offensive display could only result in one goal in the first half. However, I would like to praise my squad for their effort in the campaign.”
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com
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