KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Oman, which is 90th in the world’s ranking, advanced to the final of the Airmarine Cup Football Championship after trouncing 147th ranking Afghanistan 5-0 at the semi-final action of the championship at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, today.
The Al-Ahmar squad (The Reds) were clearly in a class of their own when they ceaselessly raided the Afghanistan’s goalmouth and scored the opening goal in as early as the ninth minute via skipper Ahmad Mubarak Al Mahaijri.
The goal combusted the spirit of the Omani players who racheted up their game and scored the second goal through Raed Ibrahim Saleh in the 26 minute.
Mohammed Abdullah Al Balushi added to the woes of the Afghanistan’s team when he scored the third goal for Oman at the end of the first half.
As soon as the second half started, Oman immediately resumed harassing the opposition’s fort and scored its fourth goal via an Abdul Aziz Humaid Al Maqbali finishing touch in the 49th minute following a lapse in the defence.
Substitute player, Musallam Mohammed confirmed victory for the squad under Erwin Koeman towards the end of the second half and the 5-0 score remained unchanged until the match ended.
Oman would face off the winner of another semi-final match between Malaysia and Singapore at the same venue tonight.
Based on the championship format, the winning teams will advance to the final while the beaten teams will play in the deciding action for the third/fourth place and both matches would take place on March 23.
Speaking at a post-match press conference, Erwin said he was extremely pleased with the performance of his charges especially in the first half of the match and was confident they were on the right track to win the tournament.
“They play a very disciplined game and handled the situation very well. I saw the Afghanistan’s players were struggling to play under the (hot) weather and the pitch is also not very good for them. But in football, there are no excuses,” the 57-year-old Dutchman added.
Afghanistan’s head coach, Anoush Dastgir said the defeat was mainly due to the long flight they took as most of the players were based in Europe.
“The players are also accustomed to the cold weather in Europe but were forced to play under the blazing heat. The lesson we get from today’s defeat is that we must be prepared playing under various conditions,” the 29-year-old added. — Bernama
