Iraq look to top Group C with win over South Korea
Date
1/19/2016 1:49:13 AM
(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Coach Shahad Abdulghani will take defending champions Iraq into their final group stage meeting with Korea Republic today with one eye on the quarter-finals of the AFC U23 Championships as the two unbeaten sides go head-to-head to determine who will take top spot in Group C.
Both teams notched up wins over Yemen and Uzbekistan in their first two games with Korea holding a nominal advantage thanks to a superior goal different that would mean Shin Tae-yong’s side would win the group in the event of a draw at Grand Hamed Stadium.
“Each match has its own strategy and Korea play differently and have a different formation to Uzbekistan and over the coming days we will prepare a special plan for this match” said Abdulghani following Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 win over Uzbekistan.
“We have to manage the calculations in the other group and who we will play from the other group.
“During the match with Korea the Koreans come first in the group with only a draw so it is important for us to know what are the odds for us to be first in the group.”
Back to back wins
Korea go into the game off the back of a 2-1 success over Uzbekistan and comprehensive 5-0 win over Yemen that saw Kwon Chang-hoon claim a hat-trick in the opening 45 minutes.
“The players are capable of playing different formations and we showed against Yemen we are a good team” said Korea coach Shin.
Neither Uzbekistan nor Yemen can advance to the quarter-finals after losing their opening two fixtures but both will look to salvage some pride at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.
“The only thing I can do is try and make recovery from the defeat against Iraq and raise the mood and demonstrate that we can play better football than we played against these two teams” said Uzbekistan coach Samvel Babayan.
“We lost two games and we lost to the strongest teams in the group. We can just play the third game and show that we can do better.”
Yemen coach Amin al-Sunaini meanwhile had backed Korea to make a major impression on the latter stages of the competition after being on the receiving end of a heavy defeat by the East Asians last week.
“I would like to say Korea has a huge chance in the quarter-finals” he said. “Our coming match will not affect the result of the group.”
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