Qatar’s Hashim Ali (left) celebrates with team-mates after scoring against hosts Indonesia their AFC U-19 Championship match against hosts Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta yesterday.
Jakarta: Qatar’s assistant coach Lino Godinho was delighted by the way the West Asians dug deep to claim a dramatic 6-5 win against Indonesia in their second AFC U-19 Championship Group A fixture.
On what proved to be a sensational night at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Qatar made the most of several Indonesian defensive lapses to take a 4-1 lead into the half-time break and then extend their advantage with two more goals after the break.
Sunday’s win also earned Al Annabi three points to put the Qatari youngsters back in contention for a place in the last eight.
“After losing our first match to the UAE, we went into the game against Indonesia wanting to score more and we absolutely achieved that,” Godinho said.
“When we were leading 6-1, we really did expect a reaction from Indonesia and the fact that we held on to get the win really does show that we have a resilient and mentally tough team, one that plays as one until the very end.
“What was important was the excellent collective effort, one which enabled us to score six goals and gain a valuable victory,” he said.
In contrast, Indonesia head coach Indra Sjafri was quick to admit that calamitous first half defending cost his side the match.
Despite a subsequent Indonesian revival which saw them come within a whisker of taking a point, Sjafri was more than aware of the damage that had been done in the opening 45 minutes.
“I really want to thank the players, they made so many mistakes but then made an unbelievable effort to come back the way they did,” Sjafri said.
“I believe the problem was that we wanted to score early on and, as a result, left spaces which Qatar were able to exploit.
“Of course, the early goals definitely cost us. We are culpable of making individual errors that allowed Qatar to score and although we changed things around in the second half, the four goals we conceded in the first period proved crucial,” he said.
Indonesia will face the United Arab Emirates in their final group stage game tomorrow, with Sjafri acknowledging that improvements will have to be made if they are to stand any chance of beating the table-topping Emiratis and progress to the next stage.
Qatar will conclude their group stage campaign today when they play Chinese Taipei at the Pakansari Stadium in Bogor.
