(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman qualified for the AFC U16 Championship courtesy of a 3-1 victory over Nepal that needed only a draw from Sunday's encounter to top Group B ahead of Yaqoob Sabahi's team in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan.
An 11th minute goal from Thamir al Zaabi supplemented by Mohammed al Khamisi's penalty strike with a minute of the first half remaining saw Oman put one foot in next year's finals knowing that a win would see it join Nepal on six points and book its ticket to India on account of a better head-to-head record.
An 88th-minute penalty strike from substitute Prezen Tamang - who replaced Rejin Subba Nepal's hero in its 2-1 win over Jordan just seven minutes earlier - gave the South Asians a glimmer of hope but that was snuffed out two minutes into the stoppage-time when substitute Mohammed al Qaidi restored Oman's two-goal advantage.
The win saw Oman qualify for the big event in India while Nepal settled for the second place hoping that its record from their three matches in Bishkek will be good enough to see it through as one of the four top second-placed finishers.
The attendances for Kyrgyzstan's matches have been impressive and the Group B hosts finally gave their fans something to cheer as the home side ended its campaign with a 4-1 win over Jordan.
The 7400 fans who turned up at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium hoping for the young Kyrgyzstan side to end on a high saw Gulzhigit Alykulov open the scoring after 11 minutes before Emir Shigaibaev put the home side 2-0 up in the 33rd minute.
Jordan reduced the deficit shortly after the restart when substitute Laith Husam scored a 48th-minute penalty having replaced Hamza Nayef al Mrdi at the start of the second half.
But with Jordan reduced to ten men following the sending off of defender Mohammad Akram Kyrgyzstan regained the initiative and captain Maksat Dzhakybaliev made it 3-1 in the 72nd minute. Timur Orzobek capped the win four minutes into second-half stoppage-time as the Central Asians finished third ahead of the Jordanians.
Eleven group winners and four best second-placed teams will join India in next year's finals with the tournament hosts receiving an automatic qualification. Should India finish on top of its qualifying group or among the four best second-placed teams the fifth best second-placed nation will qualify for the final competition.
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