21 Oct 2014
?Yangon, 21 October 2014. The success story of Qatar’s U-19 football national team goes on: After a 3-2 extra-time-win against host Myanmar in their semi-final at Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium on Monday the team of Felix Sanchez will face DPR Korea in the final of the AFC U-19 Championship on Thursday.
Almoez Ali had given the team of Qatar - a mixture of graduates and student athletes of Aspire Academy - the lead in first-half stoppage time, but Myanmar came back in the second half and turned the game around thanks to goals scored by Aung (62’) and Nyein Chan Aung (64’). However, after 75 minutes substitute Akram Afif's long-range free kick brought the scores level once more and took the tie to extra-time. And it took only two minutes until defender Serigne Abdou was on target to restore Qatar's lead that should take them to the final of the AFC U-19 Championship.
After having already equalled their tournament best second place – from the 1980 edition in Thailand, when the competition used a round-robin format – Qatar will now face DPR Korea (5-0 win in their semi-final against Uzbekistan) in Thursday’s final. "I
am so proud and happy with the boys tonight, they gave a lot of effort against a good team in a great environment for football and it was definitely the hardest game we have played so far, especially in such a lively atmosphere," said Qatar coach Felix
Sanchez after the final whistle.