Japan, Syria in final showdown at U-19 c'ship

Japan, Syria in final showdown at U-19 c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): Syria and Japan lock horns tomorrow for the 29th
Asian Youth Under-19 soccer championship title after each won
semifinal matches at Senayan stadium last night.

The celebrations of the two finalists, which also will make
appearances at the World Under-20 finals in Lagos, Nigeria in
March next year, were immediately overshadowed by Veter Velappan,
secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation, who
disclosed measures taken by the soccer body to fight over-age
violations during the two-week tournament.

Two goals from Susumu Oki gave Japan, a growing soccer
powerhouse in Asia, another goal spree as it whipped Iraq 3-0. In
the previous semifinal battle, Syria shattered Thailand's dream
of making it through the final with a 1-0 victory, thanks to
Lauay Thelb's lone goal in the 79th minute.

However, the loss by only one point against the unbeaten,
high-riding Syrians was certainly a great achievement after
maintaining a 0-0 draw through the first half. The Thai squad,
whom their own coach repeatedly referred to as an underdog team,
has now begun to change the view they have of themselves.

"It's proof that our team is not an underdog. We could play
Syria equally," Thailand's coach, Chatchai Phaholpai, told
reporters after congratulating Syrian team manager Ahmed Hajjir.

According to Chatchai, his boys were mentally down in the
second half after Kiatsuk Senamuang, the team's midfield ace,
could not continue playing because of an injury.

In the eighth minute of the second half, Kiatsuk was knocked
down in a head-on collision with Syrian Tarek Jabban in a hot
struggle for the ball.

Throughout the match, Thailand repeatedly made aggressive
attacks which produced many golden opportunities. But Thailand's
eagerness and haste to score a goal ended with the ball passing
high over the Syrian goal post.

Dividends

Japan showed no mercy to the defensive-prone Iraqis with
relentless threats which lasted only until Malaysian referee
Nazir Abdullah blew the final whistle. Iraq's well-organized
defense paid dividends only in the first 40 minutes, before
Sotaro Yasunaga slotted home a rebound to the net.

The Japanese boys kept on their pressures in the second half,
with the dazzling partnership of a forwarder team made up of Oki,
Hidetoshi Nakata and Naoki Matsuda taking control in the Iraqi
penalty box.

Oki tallied his first goal of the game nine minutes after the
break, finishing a short pass from Sotaro Yasunaga. Iraq's goalie
Khalid Risan should have blamed his team's ruinous defense as
less than five minutes later, Oki found the net again.

"I urged my players to think and decide fast since we were
taking on opponents with excellent skills and ball control,"
Japanese coach Koji Tanaka said after the match.

A soft spoken Velappan blasted allegations that the AFC did
not do anything to deal with the over-age violations, saying that
the Asian soccer body had conducted random X-rays on three
players of each participating team before the tournament.

The X-ray, conducted by Japanese experts, examined the
players' wrists, hips, ankles and knees, which usually can
determine the true age of each player.

AFC will send letters to the national federations in each
country a week after the tournament and will ask for school,
military service and employement records of the players to cross-
check the X-ray results.(arf/amd)