JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Japan booked berths in the quarterfinals with victories yesterday in the AFC Youth Championship 2008 in Dammam.
The Kingdom team reached the next round after an easy 4-1 victory against Yemen in the second match of Group A 4-1.
Nawaf Al-Abed drew first blood for the host squad in the 11th minute of the match. Yemen’s Ahmad Hussein equalized from a strong shot inside the penalty box in the 31st minute.
Abdul Raheem Jizawi then scored the second goal for the Saudis in the 47th minute with Omar Sultan and Abdul Raheem Jizai adding further goals in the 83rd minute and 85th minute Japan crushed Iran 4-2 to accompany Saudi Arabia as the first teams to qualify for the next round in this competition.
The final non-bearing match of the group between Saudi Arabia and Japan tomorrow will only determine the positions at which they qualified. The Yemen-Iran match is likewise a meaningless encounter as both teams had bowed out of contention.
In in Group B match, Iraq defeated Syria 2-1 to keep their qualifying hopes alive.
UAE advanced from Group B after beating South Korea 2-1 yesterday and securing the required six points to qualify.
The concluding matches will be between UAE against Syria and South Korea against Iraq.
Today, Lebanon faces China in a Group C match while Tajikistan take on North Korea in another match of the group. Uzbekistan battles Australia in while Thailand plays Jordan in a pair of Group D matches.
