08 Sep 2014
Doha, 8 September, 2014: With two wins out of three games the under19 national teams of Qatar and Chile made it to the final of the international youth tournament at Aspire Academy. The game will be played on Tuesday, September 9, at 8pm and promises to be an interesting one, since the first game between the two teams ended with a tight 1-0 win for Chile.
The international under19 tournament has brought four teams from four different continents to Aspire Academy. The U19 national team of New Zealand was happy to finish the tournament on a positive note with a 3-1 win over Morocco. For them, the tournament was also a special one, since the men’s national team of New Zealand was here at same time and used the facilities of the Academy for a training camp. “We stayed in the same hotel as the senior players and sometimes head coach Anthony Hudson invited some of our young players to join the training of the “All Whites”, which was very motivating for them,” said Darren Bazeley, head coach of the U19 national team of New Zealand.
It was the second visit for the England-born coach to Aspire Academy after 2011, when he came here with the U17 national team of New Zealand. “This is really a world class football facility and Aspire Academy puts a lot of detail into creating the perfect environment for their players and we were pleased to be invited.” For his team, the tournament was very important in respect of identifying and selecting players for the FIFA Under20 World Cup that New Zealand is going to host between May 30 and June 20, 2015.
Qualifying for this FIFA U20 World Cup is also a goal of the Qatari team that is using the tournament at Aspire Academy to prepare for the AFC-U19 Championship in October, where they are going to face Iraq, North Korea and Oman in the group stage. The competition in Myanmar is crucial for the 2015 U20 World Cup, because only the top 4 teams secure themselves a starting place in New Zealand.
Final:
Tuesday, September 9
Qatar vs. Chile (Kick-off: 8 pm)
Results:
Saturday, September 6
Qatar vs. Chile 0-1 (0-1)
New Zealand vs. Morocco 3-1 (2-0)
Thursday, September 4
Qatar vs. Morocco 1-0 (1-0)
Chile vs. New Zealand 1-0 (0-0)
Tuesday, September 2
Qatar vs. New Zealand 4-0 (1-0)
Chile vs. Morocco 2-3 (0-1)