Yangon: Newly-crowned AFC U-19 Champions Qatar scooped up the individual awards to add to their maiden title as their captain Ahmad Moein was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and striker Ahmed Al Sadi claimed the Top Scorer accolade.
Moein was the cornerstone of his team throughout the tournament and showed an astonishing level of maturity with his cultured passing, fierce tackling and some accurate shooting — most especially against China in the quarter-finals when he scored from long-range in a 4-2 victory.
“I am very happy and proud of all my team-mates and for Qatar,” said the 18-year-old midfielder.
“It means a lot for Qatar to win this tournament. We worked hard for it and it was not easy with many hard matches. We will (now) look forward to the World Cup and I’m very happy that Qatar won this tournament for the first time.
“I am very happy to be Most Valuable Player but all my team-mates helped me achieve this award. Winning an award like this in such a difficult competition is not easy by any means but thanks to the help of my team-mates I have achieved it.”
Moein’s coach Felix Sanchez Bas was full of praise for his side’s skipper, emphasising not only the player’s individual ability but also his unselfish work rate and team-first mentality.
“Moein played a fantastic tournament and it’s a well-deserved award because he was really great,” said Qatar coach Sanchez Bas.
“He scored, defended, passed the ball to his team-mates. He really wants to make it as a professional footballer and if he keeps this level, there’s absolutely no reason why he can’t.
“But we always emphasise that the team comes before the individual and Moein is a great example of this and he always plays for his team-mates and looks to create opportunities for them.
“Al Sadi, who was top-scorer, also had a great tournament, too, but he needs 10 other players to give him the ball and create the opportunities for him so he can score,” Sanchez Bas said.
Al Sadi showed formidable precision especially in the group stages of the tournament. His goals almost single-handedly hauled Qatar into the knockout stages of the championship.
The Belgium-based forward was on the score-sheet in all three group-stage games, scoring against DPR Korea and Iraq before notching a brace against Oman.
In the quarter-final against China, Al Sadi scored within the first five minutes in his side’s 4-2 victory and although he did not net again in the semi-finals or finals, his five-goal tally was enough to give him the top scorers award ahead of fellow five-goal scorers Jo Kwang-myong of DPR Korea and Zabikhillo Urinboev of Uzbekistan by virtue of a superior assist count.
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