Kathmandu: Second half goals saw India cruise to a 3-0 win over Palestine in their opening AFC U-16 Championship 2018 Malaysia qualifying campaign at the Halchowk grounds in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Givson Singh Moirangthem, Bekey Oram and skipper Vikram Pratap scored for India, who prepared for the Qualifers by lifting the SAFF U-15 Championship title in Kathmandu last month.
The victory will be a great morale booster for India going to the next challenge against reigning AFC U-16 champions Iraq and hosts Nepal, who they meet on Friday.
Only the group winners are assured of a ticket to the Finals in Malaysia next year.
India made their intent clear in the 11th minute when unmarked inside the danger zone, Oram shot just wide of the target following a perfect left flank cross from India skipper Pratap in the 11th minute.
Palestine got a huge reprieve in the 27 minute as defender Harpreet Singh’s header off Oram's corner rebounded of the crossbar.
After failing to muster a single shot on target in the first half, Palestine finally saw a chance five minutes after the resumption but Omar Kabha shot shoot straight into the arms of Indian custodian Lalbiakhlua Jongte.
After missing out on several scoring opportunites in the first half, India finally made the breakthough in the 53rd minute when Moirangthem converted a superb free-kick at the far post.
India upped their tempo after the first goal and missed out on scoring thrice in quick succession.
Ricky John Shabong shot wide off skipper Pratap’s left wing cross in the 64th minute before substitute Lalrokima’s attempt from close range was blocked by the Palestine defence. A few seconds later Oram shot wide of the target.
Oram made amends for his earlier miss by heading home a cross from Shabong to double the Indian lead in the 74th minute.
India made sure of all three points with their influential skipper Pratap scoring the third in the 82nd minute. The Indian skipper charged into the area and slammed the ball past Palestine goalkeeper Mohammed Hamed.
Bibiano Fernandes (India coach)
Our boys deserved the victory for the way they performed today. I thought it would be a difficult match against Palestine and it turned true in the first half when we were unable to break their defence. But I had confidence in my team as we just needed to score the first goal. Once we had one goal, it was easier to add more. We got all three points but we have not won anything yet as we have two more tough matches to go starting with the Nepal clash. The same team beat Nepal in the SAFF U-15 Championships final here (last month) but that doesn’t mean anything now. We missed too many chances but that isn’t a concern for me. It's always better to create chances and miss than to find it difficult to create ones."
Yahya Jalayta (Palestine coach)
It was a tough game for us, coming here only a day prior to the tournament kick-off. We are finding it hard to adjust to the local conditions after coming straigth from our training camp in Jordan. All this contributed to our inability to perform to our potential. But the competition is not over yet and we will do our best to come up with positive results in our next two matches. We are not worried by our performance today because each game will be different and cannot be judged by another game."
Iraq eked out 1-0 win over hosts Nepal in their opening qualifying match of the AFC U-16 Championship 2018 Malaysia at the Halchowk grounds on Wednesday.
The second half goal from Mohammed Luay Mandalawi decided the game for the defending champions in a game that saw Iraq dominate possession but fail to create clear cut chances.
Nepal were busy defending all the time but were undone by a goalkeeping blunder.
Iraq were denied a goal thanks to a goalline clearance from Nepal defender Sanjib Aryal in the 28th minute.
After a goal-mouth melee, the ball fell nicely to Mohammed Ridha Alghannami, who poked in towards the goal only for Aryal to make a desperate clearance from the goalline.
Iraq kept Nepali custodian Bishal Sunar busy as only three minutes later he made a save off a Hasan Salman Shanan free-kick.
Nepal absorbed waves of attack with half time approaching and somehow managed to go into the break level with the holders of the AFC U-16 Championship.
As both teams struggled to create any meaningful shots on target early in the second half, a blunder from goalkeeper Sunar saw Iraq take the lead in the 68th minute through Salah Ghazitalib.
Seemingly under no threat as a long ball from midfield rolled towards Sunar, the Nepal goalkeeper tried to pull the ball inside the area instead of clearing it, allowing Ghazitalib to rush in to shoot into an empty net.
Ali Hadi Mohsin (Iraq coach)
Nepal made us fight for three points and credit to their tight defence. Nepal played really well defensively. The outcome will help us psychologically in our next matches. We will definitely improve our game in the remaining matches as we now know how the rest of the teams play. We are confident of making it to the Finals. As for our next match against Palestine, we will devise specific strategies after watching their game against India today
Sunil Kumar Shrestha (Nepal coach)
Our boys gave their 100 percent and only a goalkeeping and defending blunder cost us the game. Otherwise we did really well. India are well known opponents for us and we will have no other option but to go for win on Friday in order to keep our qualification hopes alive. Against Iraq, many believed that we would go down meekly against the mighty team. But we proved those doubters wrong. Hopefully we will win our next two matches and qualify for Malaysia."
Photos: AFC
Source: the-afc.com