24 Oct 2018
Bogor. 24 October 2018. Qatar U-19 national football team is through to the quarter final stage of the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship after beating Chinese Taipei 4-0 in the last group match played at Pakansari Stadium on Wednesday 24th October 2018. Qatar team made up almost entirely of Aspire Academy Graduates finished top of Group A with six points and host nation, Indonesia clinched the second place also on six points.
After playing out a goalless first half where Qatar created chances but could not put them away, Aspire graduate, Khaled Mansour opened the scoring with an angled shot on 57th minute. A flurry of goals followed as another Aspire graduate, Hashim Ali scored his second brace of the tournament on 61st and 77th minutes. His second was a beautifully curled shot with the inside of his right foot and as it sailed into the back of the net, Al Annabi celebrated fully aware a place in the last eight beckoned.
The fourth and final goal came from the penalty spot after graduate, Khaled Mohammed’s trickery in the box saw him upended by an opposite defender. Up stepped Aspire graduate, Abdulrasheed Umaru who sent Li Guan Pei in goal for Chinese Taipei the wrong way with the spot kick. Qatar won this Championship in 2014 and as they seek to repeat the feat, their now wait to meet the yet to be decided runners-up in Group B, with Sunday’s encounter sure to be a titanic tussle given that both a spot in the semi-finals and a berth at next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup will be up for grabs.