Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Phnom Penh: A fortuitous second-half goal from Prak Mony Udom secured Cambodia a first win of the final round of 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers after edging out Afghanistan 1-0 on Tuesday at the National Olympic Stadium.
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Mony Udom was in the right place at the right time to deflect an attempted clearance from Afghanistan goalkeeper Ovays Azizi into the net on the hour mark.
The win saw Cambodia bounce back from March’s 7-0 defeat by Jordan in their Group C opener, while Afghanistan failed to add to their opening 1-1 draw with Vietnam.
Afghanistan started strongly as Norollah Amiri failed to find the target with a header from Faysal Shayesteh’s cross into the penalty area, before Mony Udom shot wide from a promising position for the home side.
Shayesteh was proving to be Afghanistan’s key threat going forward and the midfielder drew a smart save from Cambodia goalkeeper Sou Yaty after unleashing a low drive from 35 yards out soon after.
And Shayesteh should have opened the scoring for Afghanistan with the last kick of the first-half, but was unable to find the target from a promising position.
The miss proved costly as Cambodia opened the scoring 15 minutes into the second-half as Azizi’s heavy touch created trouble for the Afghanistan goalkeeper, and his attempted eventual clearance crashed into the back of the advancing Mony Udom and the ball ricocheted into the back of the net.
Cambodia tightened up their defence as the half progressed as the home side protected their slender lead, but they still needed a point blank save from goalkeeper Yaty in the closing stages to deny Sharif Mohammad an almost certain equaliser.
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