In the day’s earlier game, Afam Akram scored twice as Sri Lanka registered their first goals and win of the qualifiers by beating Bhutan 2-0 to finish third.
Sri Lanka were made to work hard for their win by the Bhutan U19’s and even had the opportunity to earn themselves a draw or even a win. However brilliant goalkeeping by Rasik Rishad as he had done in the earlier matches, denied the chance of scoring.
Sri Lanka opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Afam Akram slid to volley home a delightful cross across the goal by Naveen Jude. Sri Lanka got further opportunities, but poor passing and poor finishing denied them more goals.
Towards the end of the first half Bhutan U19’s got back into the game, controlling the match and even getting shots on goal but were unlucky as they went into half time a goal down.
The second half was the same, as Bhutan held their nerve and frustrated the Sri Lankan U19 as the islanders only got their 2nd goal in the 85th minute.
Uzbekistan powered their way to the AFC U-19 Championship finals on Tuesday when a 4-0 victory over host nation Bangladesh saw them finish top of Group A.
Only needing to avoid defeat to ensure their progress, the Uzbeks who finished fourth in 2014, took the lead after only two minutes thanks to Doston Ibragimov’s opener at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
The talented midfielder made life even more difficult for Bangladesh when he netted his and his side’s second in the 62nd minute, before substitute Bobir Abdixolikov effectively ended the game as a contest by making it 3-0 with eleven minutes remaining.
Sukhrob Nurulloev, who had also come off the bench, rounded off the scoring with Uzbekistan’s fourth in the 92nd minute to secure a win that guaranteed the Central Asians of a spot in Bahrain next year.
Ten group winners and five (to be confirmed in due course) best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams).
