The Qantas Young Socceroos have gone down 2-0 to Iraq in the semi-finals of the AFC U-19 Championship at the Emirates Stadium in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.
After a scoreless first half, that had end-to-end action but not real goal scoring opportunities to trouble either goalkeeper, the Qantas Young Socceroos had an opportunity to break the deadlock six minutes into the second half when they were awarded a penalty when Iraqi defender Ali Adnan appeared to handle the ball in the box. Unfortunately for the Qantas Young Socceroos on this occasion, their top goal-scorer from the tournament, Corey Gameiro, was not able to convert his attempt with Iraqi goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed producing a good diving save to his right to keep the scores level.
Although disappointed with the result, Qantas Young Socceroos Head Coach Paul Okon was proud of what his team had achieved during the tournament.
“It was a tough match this evening and we knew Iraq are a very good team. Iraq showed that this evening and there is no excuses, we just made a few too many mistakes and when you make mistakes like we did this evening you are made to pay,” said Okon
“If we had converted the penalty the game could have been different but to the credit of the players they kept fighting to the end.
“I am proud of my players as we set out a goal to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey and we achieved this and for that I congratulate them,” concluded Okon.
In the other semi-final match Korea Republic defeated Uzbekistan 3-1 .
Iraq will now meet the Korea Republic in the final of the AFC U-19 Championship at the Emirates Stadium, Ras al-Khaimah today.
