Oman edged closer to the last eight of the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 after securing a 0-0 draw with Korea Republic in Group C on Monday. Yousuf Al Malki struck the woodwork early on at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as two-time champions Oman had the better of a goalless opening 45 minutes.
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The East Asians put in an improved performance in a second half of few chances with the goalkeepers rarely tested as Oman returned to the top of the standings on goal difference while the 2014 runners-up picked up their first point of the continental campaign.
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Oman will now advance as Group C winners if they avoid defeat against second-placed Iraq on Thursday while Korea Republic must beat Malaysia and hope the group’s other clash does not end level if they are to have any chance of progression.
Oman started confidently and were just inches away from going in front on 10 minutes when Al Malki’s inswinging free-kick from 40 yards caught goalkeeper Park Ji-min off guard only to rebound back off the crossbar.
The Gulf nation continued in the ascendancy and Arshad Al Alawi drilled just wide of the Korea Republic left post on 17 minutes.
Yaqoub Al Sabahi’s team then should have opened the scoring midway through the half with Al Alawi, scorer of two goals in his side’s 3-0 opening-day victory over Malaysia, involved once more.
The midfielder’s sweetly struck effort from outside the penalty area was too hot to handle for Park Ji-min but when the ball fell kindly to Muatasim Al Bakri just a few yards from goal the forward shot over when it looked easier to score.
The young Taeguk Warriors finally had their first effort of note five minutes after the restart when Jeong Chan-young’s floated free-kick from the right forced a diving Yousuf Al Sheyadi to push to safety.
The East Asians were enjoying more of the possession but Oman had another chance on 58 minutes as Naji Al Gheilani broke forward before seeing his effort from inside the left side of the penalty area blocked by Park Ji-min.
Midway through the half Thamir Al Zaabi cut inside from the left and fired narrowly over as the tie remained firmly in the balance.
But as the game moved towards the final 20 minutes neither side looked like breaking the deadlock with a draw being enough to ensure both went into their final group outings with a fighting chance of reaching the knockout phase.
Park Jeong-in had the final chance of an uneventful encounter when he curled the wrong side of Al Sheyadi’s right post in added time to mean Group C will go to the wire.
Oman coach Yaqoub Al Sabahi: “I think we played a good game tactically and I’m very happy with the players’ performance. We played against one of the best teams in the tournament and I think we prepared very well for it. In the first half we missed two or three good chances but this is football. My players don’t have too much experience, maybe if they did we would have scored. Now all the teams in the group have a chance to qualify so I hope the two days is enough for us to recover.”
Korea Republic coach Seo Hyo-won: “We are disappointed that after two games we have only one draw and one loss, but we’ll do our best in our one remaining match. In the last moment before shooting we have not done so well, so we must do much better with taking our chances. We also need to improve our crossing. But teams like Oman and Iraq have been much better than our expectations in this tournament.”
