Thailand scalps favorite Japan 2-0 in U-19 opener
JAKARTA (JP): Thailand lived up to its billing as a promising Asian soccer powerhouse as it pounded favorite Japan 2-0 in their Asian youth under-19 soccer championship opener yesterday.
Efficient play paid dividends for the Thai youngsters, while the Japanese side, who were stretched throughout the 90 minutes of the match, found no room to score.
Thailand's captain Tawan Sripan struck the first goal in a solo run, just 12 minutes after the opening whistle. An explosive Tawan outpaced Japanese defenders led by Keusaku Omori before firing his devastating shot which had goalie Seiji Honda leaping in vain.
Hidetoshi Nakata led Japan's up front charge for an equalizer. It might have been just a matter of luck that the Japanese teenagers missed every attempt they made, but the Thai defense clearly played a part.
A spare crowd of about 1,000 at Senayan stadium, in contrast to the 50,000 people watching Sunday's matches, saw Thailand goalie Wacharapong Somcit demonstrate numerous brilliant dives to avoid the tide of the Japanese assaults. Wacharapong's commendable showing earned him the man of the match tag.
Despite the swift rebuttals, high spirited Japan continued to come charging all the way. Winger Kiatisuk Senamuang confirmed Thailand's smart play when he volleyed the ball past Honda three minutes to the final whistle.
Boredom
A 1-1 draw and boredom were the outcomes of the Bahrain-Kuwait match yesterday, which opened the second day of play at the 29th Asian youth, under-19 soccer championship at Senayan stadium.
After a goal struck by Bahraini striker Yusuf A'amer in the 4th minute, the two Gulf states were involved in a seesaw, lackluster, battle. Finally, Kuwaiti Ahmad Mairza added zest by stealthily evening up the score in the 87th minute -- throwing his whole team into a state of rapture equal to that of any World Cup victors.
Both teams resorted heavily to kicking the ball off the field to prevent goal attempts and blew many golden opportunities, even though Kuwait for the most part managed to control the play.
"For us, it was a difficult game. Our team was out of form. They did not follow my instructions," Iouri Morozov, Kuwait's Russian-born coach, told reporters at a press conference held after the match. They were only beginning to familiarize themselves with the field's condition here, Morozov added.
On the other hand, Bahraini coach, Fuad Hasan Bushaqer, remarked that "it's a good game that everybody wanted to win."
When asked why his team made so many unnecessary mistakes after leading the match 1-0, the forgiving Fuad said "everybody makes mistakes".
During the unemotional, dangling-in-the-balance match, each team had one of its players replaced and referee Yu Jing Yin of China flashed two yellow cards -- one to Saleh Alazmi and another one to Haitham Abahrouh, both of whom are from Bahrain. (arf/amd)
Today's fixture: 5.30 p.m.: Qatar vs Kazakhstan 7.30 p.m.: Iraq vs Syria