Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Oman leapfrogged Bahrain into second place in the Group A standings on Friday when the Gulf Sultanate defeating Lebanon 4-0 in their second AFC U-23 Championship 2016 qualifier, having played out a 1-1 draw with the Bahrainis in their opening match.
The Group A hosts had the three points all but sealed in the first half when goals by Saud Al Farsi (11th), Ahmed Al Siyabi (16th) and Omar Talib Al Fazari (19th) saw Oman take a comfortable 3-0 lead into the second half at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Opening scorer Al Farsi made it 4-0 with his second of the match on the hour mark which transpired to be the final goal of the game as Oman took their points tally to four, two shy of leaders Iraq who recorded their second high-scoring win on Friday when they hammered the Maldives 7-1 in Friday’s earlier match having opened their qualifying campaign with a 4-1 win over Lebanon.
Ten group winners and five best second-placed teams from all groups will join hosts Qatar at the AFC U-23 Championship 2016, with January’s 16-team competition also serving as Asia’s qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Rio.