AFC U-16 Championship – MD2: Group A [PREVIEW]

AFC – GOA, UAE Coach Abbas Chamanian already has one eye on the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 quarter-finals as Islamic Republic of Iran prepare to face off with the United Arab Emirates in Group A at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

The Iranians endured a tough opening 45 minutes to the continental competition, trailing 2-0 to Saudi Arabia at half-time, but responded emphatically after the interval as goals from Allahyar Sayyad, Mohammed Ghaderi and Alireza Asadabadi secured a 3-2 victory.

Next up for Chamanian’s Iran is a UAE side who also claimed a come-from-behind 3-2 win, against hosts India, in their first match of the AFC youth tournament.

“It’s very important for both teams to win this game because the winner of the group may have an easier game in the quarter-finals,” said coach Chamanian.

“We have analysed UAE’s game against India and have knowledge of their system. They’re a good team and were able to come back into the game and defeat the hosts.”

UAE, meanwhile, played out a similar scenario in their first game at the tournament by coming from 2-1 down at half-time to eventually record an impressive 3-2 scoreline over India thanks to Manea Aydh’s winner 16 minutes from time.

“I want to congratulate Iran for their win against Saudi Arabia; we will now look at that game and study their positive and negative points,” said coach Abdelmajeed Al Nemer.

“We will try to find a way to get a good result against them. We are going to look for three points but the minimum we expect is a point.”

Sunday’s other Group A encounter pits Nicolai Adam’s India against Saudi Arabia in a tie that both teams will be looking to register their first points of the competition.

After an outstanding opening 45 minutes by Adam’s team, the young Blue Tigers let a 2-1 lead slip before eventually succumbing to a 3-2 defeat.

“The atmosphere after the opening match was not good,” said Adam. “But I told them we have to suck it in and experience the suffering, and that energy we will put into the next game.

“I don’t consider the game a must-win – we will continue our work. But we want to win and we will do our best.”

Saudi Arabia also put in a dominant first-half showing in their opening fixture but were poor after the restart, and will now be looking for a positive response against the hosts.

“Losing the first game, especially in such a scenario, was of course upsetting for the whole team,” said coach Mohammed Al Abdali. “But we have worked on maintaining the players’ confidence and I hope they will show great spirit tomorrow.

“India is a good team and we expect a tough game. Both sides need to win, which makes the task harder – we need the win as much as they do.”