With a sunny and full day of definitions that would confirm the positions in both Pools and define the qualifiers for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.
Bangladesh 6 vs Uzbekistan 1
The first match of the day would be between Bangladesh and Uzbekistan, both occupying the first and second place in Pool B. For it was important to win the 3 points, anyway, they knew that both were qualified for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.
Although the first blow was given by the Uzbek team with a goal in the 18th minute by MADAMINOV Abdusalom to make it 1-0, it was in the 26th minute that the team led by RASHED Mamun woke up and scored the first goal of the match with an excellent execution by ISLAM Amirul from a penalty corner to tie it and not stop scoring goals.
Two minutes later, in the 28th minute, ISLAM Amirul again converted a penalty corner to make it 2-1 and take the lead for the first time in the match.
After that second goal, Bangladesh started to have total control of the ball, with a lot of efforts from the Uzbek team to prevent this from happening.
HASAN Md in the 33rd minute made it 3-1 for the red team to start feeling more confident about the result. In the 39th minute and in the 52nd minute JOY Md made his presence felt and scored 2 more goals for his team to totally overtake Uzbekistan on the scoreboard. The last goal of the match came in the 54th minute of play with a goal by ISLAM Amirul (the ninth in the tournament for him) to crown the final 6-1.
With this result both qualify for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023.
Both will play the semi-finals on January 11 waiting for the opponent. The best player of the match was the scorer of the match ISLAM Amirul, a 17-year-old promising player.
Hong Kong China 3 vs Sri Lanka 5
Another important match in terms of positions in Pool B was between Hong Kong China and Sri Lanka.
Both had lost their first two matches and were looking for an advantage in this last group match.
Although it started out as an even match, with back and forth in both directions, but the opportunity was for the yellow team that after 19 minutes of play managed to score thanks to KUKULAGODA Lahiru to make it 1-0.
Both teams had a scheme set up to attack as much as possible. The red team could not stop the Sri Lankan players who 4 minutes after the first goal managed to extend the lead with a penalty corner goal by JAYAKODI Deshan, his first in this tournament.
The team led by DILLON Kulwant felt the turbulence of the two goals and with a lot of strength managed to come back with a goal by CHAN Yuet at 25 minutes and close the gap, but the tie came at 28 minutes with a penalty corner by McNEIL Cameron who managed to tie the match when the yellow machine did not stop advancing.
RATNAM’s team was not going to stay static either and it was in the 34th minute that BATUVITA Sandaruwan made it 3-2 to go back into the lead.
It’s fair to say that it was a match with all the adrenaline and balls for both teams who did not stop trying to shoot at the goal. 4 minutes after the 3-2 lead for Sri Lanka, SINGH Navjot one of the most experienced players scored the equalizer again for his team to make it 3-3.
It wasn’t until the last quarter that the yellow team, after a lot of trying, managed to win the game in the 53rd minute when BANDARA Pramod converted a penalty corner to make it 4-3 and lead his team to victory. But that was not all, after 2 minutes he made the final 5-3 to crown a double in a match that was very important to win. It is worth mentioning that player number 17 won the best player of the match award.
Sri Lanka took third place in Pool B, while Hong Kong China took fourth place. Both will play on January 11 for the 5-8th Place against opponents to be confirmed.
Chinese Taipei 1 vs Thailand 1
The third match of the day was between Chinese Taipei and Thailand, a defining match for Pool A, giving Thailand the chance to qualify second with a draw or a win, and for Chinese Taipei only a win would be enough to get the 3 points they needed to try to advance to Thailand.
In a highly electrifying match where both teams tried throughout the game to neutralize their opponent, looking for spaces and clean arrivals to the area to be able to shoot at the net or even in search of a penalty corner.
After 7 minutes of play, the white team with a lot of persistence managed to convert the partial 1-0 with a goal by CHEN Yung-Sheng that would place the team led by LIN Min Nan above the red team that was looking for the match to tie it as soon as possible.
After several attempts during the first 3 quarters, where both teams had new chances, but none with concrete destination, came the tie for Thailand who wanted to qualify as second in Pool A, demonstrating their experience and hierarchy against a team that used to be champion of this competition in its first edition.
Although Chinese Taipei fought until the end, they did not manage to qualify for the semi-final and finished in third place, while Thailand will play on January 11 for a place in the final.
The boys in white will play for the 5-8th place. The best player of the match was Chinese Taipei LI’s number 14, CHI-HSUAN who had an extraordinary match.
Oman 8 vs Indonesia 0
The home team had already qualified for the semi-final by taking advantage of the third and fourth places in Pool A, with Thailand in second place. Indonesia, on the other hand, wanted to get a point to try not to finish last in the group. Both knew that it would be a difficult match, where Indonesia would look to retreat to avoid attacks and filtered passes from Oman, while Oman knew that it would not be easy to get into the circle as they would be defending and waiting for the counterattack.
The match did not have many complicated situations for Oman’s defense, while Indonesia’s defense will have several headaches in defending as in the 10th minute AL BALUSHI Hassan opened the goal that would have 7 more goals during the match, scored by AL-NOUFALI Alkhoder x 2, AL HASANI Abdul,MADIT Aiman, AL BALUSHI Hassan x 2 and AL-MAMARI Omer.
With a resounding 7-0 the host of this tournament came first in Pool A with 9 points qualifying to the semifinals to be played on January 11, while Indonesia came last with 1 point and will play for the 5-8th place.
