KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — The Malaysian Under-16 (U-16) football squad booked their place in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 finals in Bangkok next year after yesterday emerging Group H winner in the qualifying rounds in Laos.
In the last group match at the National Sports Complex Stadium in Vientiene, S. Balachandran’s charges whipped Guam 13-0 to top the group standing with 10 points after four matches.
The national young side, who lifted the AFF Championships Under-16 title in Indonesia early this month, drew 1-1 against the host nation in the opening match last Saturday before recording two straight wins. They whipped Brunei Darussalam 8-0 on Monday before shocking South Korea 2-0 on Friday.
Three players scored hattricks today — Muhammad Najmuddin Samat (9’, 16’, 48’), Najib Abdullah (22’, 23’, 63’) and Abang Nur-firman Abang Norazman (68’, 80’, 90’+1).
Ahmad Firdaus Ismail grabbed a brace in the 14th and 69 minutes. The other goals came through M. Kogilaswaran through penalty kick in the 57th minute and Muhammad Shahrul Adnan (6’).
Malaysia had qualified for the finals in 2004 in Japan and 2008 in Uzbekistan. On both occasions, they only played at the group stage.
Only 10 group winner and five runners-up in the qualifying rounds qualify for the finals. Thailand automatically qualify as the host nation. — Bernama
