Palestine crushes Pakistan in U-19 Asian football championship qualifier

Palestinian football players celebrate after defeating Pakistan in the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers. (Photo courtesy: AFC)

• Pakistan’s chances for the championship in Uzbekistan have narrowed after two consecutive defeats in qualifiers
• Palestine recorded its first win after losing to Kuwait in an earlier game

KARACHI: Palestine on Sunday inflicted a second consecutive defeat to Pakistan at the Under 19 championship qualifiers held at Al-Seeb Stadium, Oman.
The loss further reduced the side’s chances of progress to the main round of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) championship, after a previous loss to Kuwait on Friday.
Palestine had also lost its first match to the host, Oman, though the side made an impressive comeback with a huge win, and beat Pakistan 5-1.
In a tweet, independent Pakistani platform FootballPakistan said: “An independent Palestine’s physically bigger and more fluid side exploited lack of shape in our midfield and defense to inflict a 2nd successive defeat to Pakistan.”
Muhammad Waheed scored Pakistan’s first goal after 30 minutes of the match, when Palestine was already two goals ahead.
However, Palestine was quick to retain its wide lead and scored a third goal almost immediately after the second half began. Yet another goal led to Pakistan’s crushing defeat.
Matches for 10 out of the 11 groups were completed in Iraq where 14 out of 16 slots for next year’s championship in Uzbekistan were booked. 
Matches of Group A, which comprise Oman, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait and Pakistan, couldn’t take place due to protests and thus took place in Oman instead.
After the matches, the group’s winner and runners-up will join the already-qualified teams, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Tajikistan, Iran, Bahrain, Malaysia, Australia, Korea Republic, Japan, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Pakistan will face Iraq on Nov. 26 and Oman on Nov. 28. The team is now required to acquire at least seven points from its group to make it to the main contest in Uzbekistan.