Tajikistan scored four in the second half to finish third in Group D of the AFC U-23 Championship 2013 qualifiers with a 5-1 win over Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka can take heart from their first-half performance in which they matched their stronger Central Asian opponents.
Both sides went into Tuesday’s Group D climax with only pride at stake and it was the Sri Lankans, who had conceded nine goals without reply in their defeats to the UAE and Yemen that took the lead when Zarwan Johar scored his country’s first goal of the qualifiers midway through the first half.
Zarwan volleyed brilliantly a cross from stand-in skipper Madushan De Silva on the left lifting the spirits of the islanders. But the Sri Lankan midfielder’s 25th minute opener was short lived as a Parvizjon Umarbdev penalty in the 37th minute drew Tajikistan level.
And it was all Tajikistan after the interval, with Firuz Rakhmatov’s strike just a minute into the second half putting the Sri Lankans on the back foot before further goals from Jahongir Aliev (71st), Navruz Rustamov (82nd) and Jahongir Aliev (88th) rounded off the ultimately convincing win for the Tajiks. Rakhmatov Firuz was named the Player of the Match.
Tajikistan finished the qualifying campaign in third position behind runners-up Yemen and the UAE, whose 1-0 victory over the Yemenis in the early match at the same venue took the Group D hosts through to next year’s continental finals in neighbouring Qatar.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join hosts Qatar at the AFC U-23 Championship 2016, with January’s 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio.
The final group winner and the complete line up of best second-place finishers will only be confirmed after the conclusion of Group B of the qualifiers, which features Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan as well as hosts Pakistan.
Group B which was scheduled to take place in Lahore at Lahore’s Punjab Stadium from March 23 to 31 has been postponed due to security concerns following the recent troubles in the Youhanabad area of the city.
A decision on an alternative venue and schedule for Group B will be announced in due course.
