Pak U19 fail to hold lead as Turkmenistan win 2-1

Pakistan failed to hold onto its 1-0 half time lead as Turkmenistan came from behind to win 2-1 at full time today, 2 November 2011, in the 2012 AFC U19 Championship qualifiers Group ‘C’ held at Takhti Stadium in Tehran, Iran.

The 1530 Iran Time (1700 PST) kick off saw Pakistan take a 25th minute lead through midfielder Naveed Ahmed, which they managed to keep on at half time. However, the opposition came back strongly and a needless foul in the box gave Turkmenistan a penalty in 60th minute. Turkmen midfielder Didar Durdiyev duly stepped up to make the scores 1-1 from his spot kick.

To make matters worse for Pakistan, Mekan Saparov then made it 2-1 for Turkmenistan just 9 minutes later as Pak U19 side failed to hold on to their precious lead in difficult weather conditions. Eventually, Turkmenistan ran the clock down as Pakistan failed to score again as the Central Asian minnows won the game 2-1 after being thrashed 3-1 by India a few days back.

Pakistan will be bitterly disappointed with the loss, amid questions raised over coach Shahzad Anwar’s decision to use only one substitute the whole game, and that too with experienced KESC midfielder Muhammad Riaz coming off for defender Amir Siddique in 63rd minute.

The interesting fact of the game was that Naveed Ahmed’s goal was Pakistan U19’s first ever goal in AFC U19 qualifiers after 2 previous participations in 2007 and 2009 failed to record a single goal for the green guns amid heavy defeats.

Iran, meanwhile, recorded an easy 3-0 win over India in the other game to top the group with their first game.

Pakistan remain bottom of the group with 0 points from 2 games. They now face hosts, and group favourites, Iran U19 in next game on 6 November 2o11 with 8 PM PST kick off at same venue.

Group C

AFC U19 CHAMPIONSHIP 2012 MATCH SUMMARY

G = Goal, Y = Yellow Card, R = Red Card, S = Substitutes
PS = Penalty Shootout Made, PS- = Penalty Shootout Missed, PK = Penalty Kick, OG = Own Goal