Two lowly teams-hosts Qatar and Bangladesh-will meet each other for a face saving win in their last Group E match of the AFC Under-16 Championship Qualifiers today at the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
Both Bangladesh and Qatar, yet to open the account playing one match each, now looking for their maiden victory on Sunday to finish 2nd in the group. In case of draw, Bangladesh will finish runners-up by virtue of better goal difference.
Yemen emerged group champions beating Qatar by 6-1 goals and Bangladesh by 2-0 goals in group affairs.
Bangladesh conceded two goals in the stoppage of both half. Defender Sultan Yousef Thabit put Yemen in stoppage time of the first half from a penalty while Osamah Samer Al Baadani confirmed the Yemen victory adding one more goal in the added time of the 2nd half.
Ahead of the Sunday’s match, Head Coach of Bangladesh U-16 Team Mostafa Anower Parvez said, ” Unfortunately we lost the match against Yemen on Friday, our boys played a good match fighting neck to neck with Yemen”
“Our group last match will be against host Qatar team, Our boys are ready to give their full effort for winning the match to qualify for the next round” he added.
Bangladesh Captain Yaseen Arafat said, “we played a good match against Yemen, But, bad Luck we lost the match 0-2 for some silly mistake, Tomorrow (Sunday), we have another match against Qatar, We will try our best for winning the match giving our 100% effort.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Bangladesh’s opening Group E match of the four-team AFC U-16 Qualifiers against United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Qatar was cancelled as the latter side withdrew their team in the dying moment.
The AFC informed the matter to Bangladesh just hour before schedule kick-off at 7:45 pm (BST). With the withdrawal of UAE from the meet now Group E became a competition of three-nation-Bangladesh, Yemen and hosts Qatar.
