HO CHI MINH CITY (6 Sept 2012) – Uzbekistan will take on Iran in the final of the AFF Under-19 Tournament in two days. This follows their thumping 4-0 win over hosts Vietnam in the final round robin tie this evening at the Thong Nhat Stadium.
But while the score line may be flattering, the performance of Vietnam was really understated considering that they could have got several goals in the first half had their strikers been sharper.
The early pressure from Vietnam’s Nguyen Thai Sung and Ho Sy Sam brought out the best from Uzbek custodian Tursunbaev Akmal to deny them while on the opposite side, Uzbekistan’s Yusupov Abdul Aziz failed to get the better of Dang Van Lam between the posts.
In the 20minute, Sy Sam rifled in from 10metres out but just could not find the target while not too long afterwards, a stiff grounder from Ngo Van Tung narrowly missed the upright.
Vietnam’s failure to make it count with the chances that they have created put pressure on the team as they became even more frustrated as the game wore on.
And just when things seem to be heading to a deadlock at the half, a frantic clearance on the part of the Vietnam defence saw the ball falling onto the feet of Uzbek defender Fomin Maksimillan, who poked the ball in for the lead.
Trailing by a single goal, it failed to lift morale in the Vietnam camp as they became increasingly under pressure from an Uzbekistan side that is gaining confidence.
At the hour mark and in spite of the gallant effort from Van Lam, the visitors went further ahead following a header from Makhstaliev Abbosbek off a cross from Abdumuminov Jahongir.
Van Lam was again in the thick of the action to deny Uzbek a bigger scoreline but in the 79th minute, there was no saving an own goal from defender Nguyen Thanh Long from a corner while four minutes to the end, Muratov Azizbek completed the rout with a header from a free kick.
In the meantime, Iran made it a perfect nine points from three matches when they came back from a goal down to beat Australia 4-1 in an earlier match.
Having won their last two matches, Iran were more relaxed in the first half as they let Australia more run of the ball. The Aussies needed to win this tie to book their place in the final and they did not take too long to test the Iranian defence when Jake Barker-Daish’s freekick came off the wall in the tenth minute.
The game was fought more in the middle of the park as both teams tried to exert their influence and in the 31st minute, there was a flicker from Iran when striker Sardar Azmoun played the ball to strike mate Benham Barzay but the latter totally muffed his try.
Benham was given another chance five minutes later but despite having only Australian keeper Paul Izzo to beat; he just blasted the ball wide.
That failure to score prodded Australia into action and in the 39th minute, they went in front when Jason Geria ran in from the right for a cross that was met by Corey Brown.
With the score at 1-0 to Australia at the break, Iran turned on the power in the second half and just six minutes in, they found the equaliser when captain Bakhsh Jirandeh executed a perfect freekick to the far post.
And barely a minute later, Iran went in front for the first time in the game when Azmoun capitalised on a defensive lapse to score.
Iran then made it 3-1 in the 63rd minute off a penalty that was converted by Bakhsh while five minutes to the end, they wrapped up goal No. 4 off a textbook run from Bakhsh down the right that was finished by Azmoun at the other end.
AFF UNDER-19 TOURNAMENT 2012
(All matches at the Thong Nhat Stadium)
2 Sept 2012: AUSTRALIA 1 UZBEKISTAN 2 / IR IRAN 2 VIETNAM 1
4 Sept 2012: UZBEKISTAN 1 IR IRAN 2 / VIETNAM 0 AUSTRALIA 4
6 Sept 2012: AUSTRALIA 1 IR IRAN 4 / UZBEKISTAN 4 VIETNAM 0
8 Sept 2012: Australia vs Vietnam (1600) / Iran vs Uzbekistan (1830)
STANDINGS
|
TEAM |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
PTS |
| Iran |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
+5 |
9 |
| Uzbekistan |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
-4 |
6 |
| Australia |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
= |
3 |
| Vietnam |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
-9 |
0 |
