Yemen secured their second win of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship with a comfortable 5-0 triumph over Sri Lanka in their penultimate Group D fixture on Sunday.
Yemen went into their second match at the Kalba Stadium buoyed by Friday’s 2-1 win over Tajikistan and they got off to a flying start against a Sri Lankan side looking for a lift after the 4-0 loss to hosts UAE in their Group D opener when Ala Addin Mahdi put Yemen one up in the first minute.
Sri Lanka were jolted by that early strike and just as they were about to settle down Al-Sarori doubled the lead for Yemen in the 14th minute. Sri Lanka had a good period of time with a good defensive structure but 10 minutes from half time Sri Lanka goalkeeper Ruwan Arunasiri was red carded making life further difficult.
In the 57th minute Waleed Al Hubaishi scored the third after constant pressure on ten man Sri Lanka.
Six minutes after the third goal, Yemen’s Czech coach Miroslav Soukup brought on Yasser Al Gabr for Khaled Mohammed and the forward responded just 120 seconds after entering the fray by making it 4-0 before adding to his 63rd minute strike with his second and Yemen’s fifth deep into second-half stoppage time.
Al Gabr was named Player of the Match for his two strikes in the second half.
Yemen will hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins when they face a tough tie on Tuesday against the UAE, with the winner of the group assured of a place at next year’s tournament proper.
Sri Lanka will meet Tajikistan next on 31st of March.
