Football: Oman rout Nepal to keep AFC U-19 Championship qualifying hopes alive

Muscat: Oman kept their hopes of qualifying alive after beating Nepal 5-0 in their final AFC U-19 Championship Group A match at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek on Wednesday.
Oman needed a win against Nepal to keep their hopes of advancing into the next round as among the best five runners-up.
According to the news posted on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) website, Oman opened their account in the 11th minute through captain Faisal Al Harthi via a brilliantly executed free-kick which gave Nepal goalkeeper Sojit no chance.
Oman doubled their advantage when Arshad Said Al Alawi scored after a one-on-one opportunity with Sojit in the 32nd minute.
Al Harthi completed his double in first half added-on time, to put Oman 3-0 up at half-time.
In the second half, Oman continued to dominate as they scored two more goals. Their goals came from Thamir Al Zaabi in the 58th minute and Arshad Al Alawi scored just seconds later.
In his post-match comments, Oman coach Rasheed Jaber said: “We had many chances to score in this game. It was a good game for us. I think our players need to learn more. It was obvious today when my team had many chances, they were lost and struggled a little bit.
“Overall, I am happy with the results because we are the only team who scored five goals against Nepal..”
“I do not know what is going to happen in the other matches but hopefully, we will have a chance to qualify for Indonesia. Otherwise, we will have to go back and build another team and build this team for the future too,” he added.
Bahrain win, UAE qualify
Later in the day, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took the automatic slot from Group A despite falling to a 1-0 defeat to Bahrain.
UAE went into the match knowing they had already sealed their place in the Finals in Indonesia next October while Bahrain needed a win to pip Oman into second place in the group.
It was a goalless first half but the UAE played with 10 men after the 31st minute when defender Khalil Ibrahim Al Blooshi was sent off for a second yellow card.
Bahrain took control of the match in the second period and finally found the net in the 73rd minute, with Ali Hasan Meftah the goalscorer.
The result, however, was not enough to secure second place despite accumulating seven points like Oman, who finished runners-up thanks to a better goal difference.