Doha: Coach Shahad Abdulghani will take defending champions Iraq into their final group stage meeting with Korea Republic today with one eye on the quarter-finals of the AFC U23 Championships as the two unbeaten sides go head-to-head to determine who will take top spot in Group C.
Both teams notched up wins over Yemen and Uzbekistan in their first two games, with Korea holding a nominal advantage thanks to a superior goal different that would mean Shin Tae-yong’s side would win the group in the event of a draw at Grand Hamad Stadium.
“Each match has its own strategy and Korea play differently and have a different formation to Uzbekistan and over the coming days we will prepare a special plan for this match,” said Abdulghani following Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 win over Uzbekistan.
“We have to manage the calculations in the other group and who we will play from the other group.
“During the match with Korea, the Koreans come first in the group with only a draw so it is important for us to know what are the odds for us to be first in the group.”
Korea go into the game off the back of a 2-1 success over Uzbekistan and comprehensive 5-0 win over Yemen that saw Kwon Chang-hoon claim a hat-trick in the opening 45 minutes.
“The players are capable of playing different formations and we showed against Yemen we are a good team,” said Korea coach Shin.
Midfielder Humam Tareq, who struck a late winner in Iraq’s thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over Uzbekistan on Saturday, has declared that his side is confident of defending their title.
It was the Uzbeks who drew first blood in the Group C clash when AFC Youth Player of the Year Dostonbek Khamdamov underlined his growing credentials by netting the fastest goal in the tournament’s history, opening the scoring just 11.47 seconds after kickoff.
Goals from Amjad Attwan Kadhim and Mahdi Kamil did overturn the deficit for the Iraqis before the break, but it looked as though Timur Khakimov had earned Uzbekistan a point when he headed home an equaliser in the 79th minute.
Nonetheless, just two minutes later, Tareq popped up to score the decider and seal his team’s progress to the quarter-finals along with Korea Republic, with today’s tie between the two sides set to decide the group winners.
Widely regarded as one of the most-talented Iraqi players of his generation, Tareq was proud of the spirit his team-mates displayed and sees no reason why they should not be targeting a repeat of their success in 2013.
“It was an important win and - thank God - I contributed to it with a late goal,” he said.
“Uzbekistan are a strong team at any level, in any competition and their early goal put us under a bit of pressure, but we fought our way back. “It was a team effort and we showed great spirit.
“We’re very happy to have collected six points from two games and progressed to the last eight of this fantastic tournament - It’s now between us and Korea Republic to decide the group winners.
“We hope to continue in the same way and retain the title we had won in Oman.”
Tareq, at the age of 16, became the youngest player to ever represent the senior Iraq national team in December 2012 and shot to prominence the following month at the Gulf Cup of Nations in Bahrain.
The now 19-year-old was once again the toast of the fans as they rushed to take selfies with him and chanted his name at the final whistle at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium.
Although the defending champions now have a quarter-final tie to work towards, Tareq insists they will not be getting ahead of themselves.
“Everybody is appreciating Iraq’s good work so far and it’s nice to hear that,” added the fleet-footed attacker. “But we need to stay focused and keep winning. “It’s not so important who your opponents are in the quarter-final because all teams are strong at this level. “Yet, a win against Korea Republic will make our players more confident and it’ll help us sustain our momentum going into the tough knockout stage.”
Despite his tender years, Tareq already has plenty of international experience to his name having appeared as last year’s AFC Asian Cup, as well as being a part of the sides that reached the semi-finals of the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup and 2014 Asian Games.
Meanwhile neither Uzbekistan nor Yemen can advance to the quarter-finals after losing their opening two fixtures, but both will look to salvage some pride at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium. “The only thing I can do is try and make recovery from the defeat against Iraq and raise the mood and demonstrate that we can play better football than we played against these two teams,” said Uzbekistan coach Samvel Babayan.
“We lost two games and we lost to the strongest teams in the group. We can just play the third game and show that we can do better.”
Yemen coach Amin Al Sunaini, meanwhile, had backed Korea to make a major impression on the latter stages of the competition after being on the receiving end of a heavy defeat by the East Asians last week.
“I would like to say Korea has a huge chance in the quarter-finals,” he said. “Our coming match will not affect the result of the group.”
The Peninsula
