JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia started its campaign in the AFC U-17 Championship 2008 on the wrong foot, taking a 3-1 defeat against Australia yesterday in Tashskent, Uzbekistan.
The Kingdom took over the spot in the U-17 final from Iraq after the Asian Football Confederation disqualified Iraq. The Saudis were bunched with Iraq, India and Lebanon in one group during the qualifying tournament.
Yesterday’s result put Saudi Arabia bottom of Group C. Australia and China, a 2-1 winner over Turkmenistan, lead the group on three points each, while Turkmenistan is third with no points.
In other matches, Yemen drew with UAE 1-1 in Yemen and Japan defeated Malaysia 4-0 in Japan in Group D.
Saturday results saw South Korea beat India 5-2 in Group B, Uzbekistan crush Singapore 7-0 and Iran defeat Bahrain 2-0 in Group A and Syria down Indonesia 2-1 in another Group B match.
Saudi Arabia’s next match is against Turkmenistan tomorrow.
