Tag: AFC U-19 Championship 2014

AFC U-19 Championship MD3: Myanmar 0-2 Iran

Yangon: Host nation Myanmar edged into the AFC U-19 Championship quarter-finals as Group A runners-up despite losing 2-0 to already eliminated Iran at Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium on Monday, qualifying courtesy of a better goal difference than Yemen who lost 3-2 to Thailand in the other Group A clash played in Nay Pyi Taw.

Iran rang the changes, making five alterations to the line-up that were eliminated in the 1-0 loss to Yemen on Saturday, and it was the introduction of two of these new faces, Yousef Seyyedi and Sadegh Moharrami, that were key as they netted the goals for the West Asians on the 55th and 82nd minutes.

And although the home side looking nervously northwards towards Nay Pyi Taw, they were able to scrape into the knockout stage by the narrowest of margins with a one goal superior goal difference over Yemen.

“We are happy for our qualification but an easier opponent than Iran will not come,” said Myanmar’s coach Gerd Zeise.

“Our goalkeeper was our man of the match, he was very safe, very good, without him we would have been in trouble.
“On the right hand side we had some problems but who should I substitute? There is no one this is our disease, we have 11 good front line players then it is difficult, very difficult.”

Myanmar attacked from the start and in a manner that was full of energy but occasionally lacked control as displayed when Than Paing took the ball from the sideline and beat two Iran defenders for pace but let the ball get away from him, making it easy for goalkeeper Payam Niazmand to collect.

Iran finished the half strong, though, with a number of opportunities to open the scoring, and on the 36th minute Hossein Mehraban was left alone, unmarked, just outside the penalty area but could only hit the ball high over the crossbar under pressure from Myanmar defenders.

Early in the second half Ali Gholizadeh forced a fine 53rd minute save at the near post from Myanmar’s Myo Min Latt and from the resulting corner the custodian once again intervened to give Nanda Kyaw a chance to clear the ball off the line.

But the danger was only momentarily abated as the ball was played back into the box and Seyyedi finished clinically to put Iran into the lead five minutes before the hour-mark.

The game picked up its tempo from then on, though, and a header from Than Paing from a corner forced Niazmand into sound stop but the next attempted set-piece resulted in an Iran counter that saw Mehraban force yet another accomplished save from Myo Min Latt.

But Myanmar’s hopes of a comeback were quashed eight mintues from time, when the ball bounced free from a melee in the box and towards Moharrami who hit the ball low and hard across Myo Min Latt. The keeper got a glove to the ball but was only able to force it on to the inside of the post to give Iran their second.

Myanmar were then forced to endure a nervy final ten minutes with the news of Thailand’s spectacular comeback against Yemen filtering in, with the significance of the scoreline in Nay Pyi Taw meaning that conceding a third would have resulted in the hosts facing the possibility of elimination from the tournament.

To the relief of the players and their massed ranks of fans, though, they were able to hold out and will now face the winners from Group B on Friday; that opponent to be determined in Tuesday’s matchups.

“I was sure we could qualify with nine points, but it wasn’t to be,” said Iran coach Ali Doustimehr.

“I believe Myanmar have the coach, the players and the tactics to reach the semi-finals.”

AFC U-19 Championship: Iran 1-2 Thailand

Yangon: A substitute for a substitute Chenrop Samphaodi scored Thailand’s winner to conclude a 2-1 comeback victory over Iran in the AFC U-19 Championship Group A opener at Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium on Thursday.

Iran took the lead only 15 minutes into the game through an Amir Mazloum strike but that was cancelled out by second-half substitute Tanasith Siripala (pictured) on 65 minutes, who once he was substituted himself, gave way for Chenrop Samphaodi to score in the 82nd minute.

After beating one of the favourites for Group A, Thailand will now face the home fans when they play host nation Myanmar on Saturday.

Despite heading into the dressing room at half time trailing their opponents, Thai coach Sasom Pobprasert said he never felt despondent.

“Iran is a good team with many big strong players but I listened to my soul, I believed my team could play a good passing game and I encouraged them to follow that belief,” said Sasom.

“We had some luck, Iran hit the post a number of times, but if you believe you can play then you must, at only 1-0 down I knew we could bring this back if we fought.”

Iran came out the stronger team and dominated chances in the first-half and a great reaction save from Thai keeper Anusit Termmee, who pushed Mazloum’s close-range shot over the crossbar, could only momentarily delay the opening goal of the tournament.

The resulting corner saw Mazloum latch on to the ball in a goal mouth scramble on the quarter-hour mark and make amends for his earlier failure to convert.
Iran who won their group at the 2012 tournament, continued to find space out wide as their wingers, particularly Saeid Aghaei playing down the left flank, regularly managed to get behind the Thai defence and pepper the box with passes but to no avail.

Thailand started to show their endeavour early in the second half, with an increase in tempo coinciding with the introduction of Tanasith.

The Young War Elephants began attacking the Iranian box and forced a number of saves from keeper Mahdi Amini before Tanasith found himself free at the top left hand corner of the penalty box and placed the ball over and across Amini, levelling the score in the 65th minute.

Turning to celebrate, the young midfielder, who had been on the field of play for less than quarter of an hour, injured himself and immediately had to be replaced by Samphaodi.

Iran attempted a comeback, several times hitting the woodwork as they tried to secure three points but when Chenrop found himself free with just eight minutes remaining, in a position on the right hand side of the box that almost mirrored Tanasith earlier, he unleashed a powerful strike to beat the Iranian keeper.

At the end of the game, Iranian coach Ali Doustimehr could only rue his side’s second-half performance and congratulate his opponents.

“They were very good, we lost the game because we took it too easy, our players were too relaxed, they saw the Thai players as physically smaller and believed they could simply walkover the opposition,” said Doustimehr, who will now look for a return to form in Saturday’s game against Yemen.

“But football is not just about the easy days, you must manage your team through the hard ones – nothing is finished yet we have two more games to come.”

Iran U-19 starts Asian Championship with a loss.

Thailand U1-9 team defeated Iran U-19 2-1 in Yangoon , Myanmar in the Group A of the AFC Asian U-19 Championship today.

The first half ended 1-0 for Iran after Amir Hossein Mazloom found the net early in the match. The match was marred by constant stopping time wastage and grass rolling by both teams , resulting in the addition of 9 minutes to the match but in reality iut was far greater than that. The time wastage and injury faking by the two sets of players was not a good advert for Asian football at this stage.

In the second half, which Thailand opened with determination and resolve, the Thai team playing a collective simple passing game , managed to score two goals while wasting as much chances to finish the match 2-1.

With Myanmar being in the same group , Ali Doustimehr team is now in a precarious position and the qualification from this group is suddenly a mammoth task.

Failure by Iran’s U-19 in this competition will seal a miserable years for Iranian football which has faced humiliation only a few weeks ago in the Asian games.

Iran has to defeat Yemen , and hope to avoid defeat against the host , in order to stand a chance of qualification.

Team Melli U-19 will be playing the next game in the group against  Yemen on Friday.  Gone are the days that Iran can count on a win even against the weakest teams , which is the case here with Yemen, however if Iran fails to win this match on Friday , they are practically our of the competition.

 

 

AFC U-19 CHAMPIONSHIP 2014

09-10-2014 15:30 MMT
Youth Training Centre, Yangon, MYANMAR

Attendance 2,850

Goals: Amirmohammad Mazloum (IRN)(15′) , Tanasith Siripala (THA)(65’), Chenrop Samphaodi (THA)(82’)

Iran

Mahdi Amini (GK); Meysam Joudaki (C), Mohammad Roshandel, Seyed Majid Hosseini, Saeid Aghaei [74′ Ali Gholizadeh],  Ali Hazami, Sadegh Moharrami [ 67’hossein Mehraban], Milad Sarlak,  Ezatolahi Saeid [85′ Siavash Haghnazari] , Amirmohammad Mazloum, Yousef Seyyedi

 

MVP: PATIPAN PINSERMSOOTSRI (THA)

AFC U-19 Championship: Group A preview

Yangon: Myanmar coach Gerd Zeise called on home fans to fill Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium in Yangon and to make the most of the country hosting this year’s AFC U-19 Championship ahead of their Group A opener against Yemen on Thursday.

 

Hosts of the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time, Myanmar have not played in the finals of the tournament since 1976 when they competed as Burma. But their historical pedigree in the competition is strong, winning the tournament seven times between 1961 and 1970.

Yangon, the country’s most populous city, will play host to all of the home nation’s games if they are to lift the trophy in a tournament that also offers four qualification berths for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, to be held in New Zealand next year.

And home advantage is something that Myanmar’s German coach is very much counting on to lift his side to new heights.

“I hope the stadium is full, in Vietnam [for the AFF U-19 Championship last month] we played against 40,000 fans from Hanoi, if we have 30,000 here, of course it will be an advantage,” said Zeise (pictured).

“We can promise the Myanmar spectators they will see good football.”

The promise of Group A providing an exciting spectacle was repeated by Iran coach Ali Doustimehr with his team kicking off the tournament in Thursday’s earlier game in Group A against Thailand.

“We are sure to have some great matches in a very exciting group with all the teams boasting coaches who are very experienced at this tasking level of football,” said Doustimehr, who saw his side crash out in the quarter-finals of the 2012 edition.

“We began preparing for this tournament a year ago and have practiced in three or four tournaments over that period in the hope of bettering our result from last time.”

Opposite number Sasom Pobprasert, though, said that Thailand’s preparations for the tournament had not run so smoothly.

“We have had many problems, many players have returned to their clubs, so we were not allowed to hold a camp, our camp was only one week long,” said Thailand coach Sasom.

“Myanmar has had four years to prepare; Thailand, only four months.”

To compound matters, Sasom will be without the pacey Santipharp Channgom for his side’s opener due to injury, but he is hopeful that the forward will return in time for the crucial tie Matchday Two tie versus Myanmar on Saturday.

Finally, Yemen round out the group and will provide the opposition for the hosts in their opening game.

And the Gulf Nation are hoping for an improvement on their last visit to the finals in the 2010 competition, where they were eliminated in the group stage.

“This is a strong group but we are hopeful of reaching the knockout stages,” said Yemen coach Ahmed Qasem.

“This is the fourth time we have played this tournament; I hope that we can achieve something this time.”