UzReport
November 1

Saudi Arabia took third place in the AFC U-20 Championship after a slick professional performance gave them a 4-0 victory over Uzbekistan in Doha on Thursday.

Eisa Al Mahyani was the man of the hour after the Saudi striker scored a hat-trick that made him the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals.

“Eisa is a very good player. He is very skilful and in great condition,” Saudi Arabia coach Carlos Oscar Pachame said of his star striker.

“It is wonderful for him but I am also very pleased that we had two players in the AFC team of the tournament.”

“Of course this was a very good result for us as we have seen that Uzbekistan are a very strong team,” added the Argentine.

The Saudis took an early lead when Eisa Al Mahyani opened the scoring with an unstoppable 8th minute drive. After playing a one-two with Abdoh Autef 25-yards from the Uzbek goal, the Saudi forward unleashed a powerful shot that flew past Ignatiy Nesterov and into the back of the net via the inside of the left post.

While there were question marks over the positioning of the Uzbek custodian with Nesterov standing at the edge of the six-yard box, it was a spectacular way for Al Mahyani to get his seventh of the tournament to join Syria’s Firas Al Khatib at the top of the goal scoring chart.

Al Mahyani doubled the Saudis advantage three minutes from the break and overtook the Kuwait-based Syrian striker with what may be the simplest goal of his career.

The Uzbeks sloppily surrendered possession in midfield, gifting the ball to the impressive Mesfr Al Kahtani, who surged to the touchline and whipped in a dangerous low cross.

Nesterov dived sharply but failed to intercept the ball. Naji Majrashi instinctively stuck out a leg to try and deflect into the empty goal but succeeded only in diverting it in to the path of Al Mahyani, who tapped the ball into the open goal from four yards.

The Uzbeks started the second-half strongly and Saudi ‘keeper Assaf Al Qarni had to react sharply to gather Ilyas Zeytulayev 48th minute header at the second attempt.

But any hopes the Central Asians had of finding a way back into the game were all but ended in the 70th minute when Al Kahtini put Saudi Arabia three up.

Muzaffar Holikov misjudged both a speculative long ball from the Saudi defence and the pace of Al Kahtani, who sped past Uzbek central defender, side-stepped Nesterov and slipped the ball into the empty net.

But the scoring wasn’t finished there as the tired Uzbek defence gave Al Mahyani enough time and space to control Abdullah Al Dosari’s cross and fire home his third of the night and ninth of the tournament in the 90th minute.

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