Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: A last gasp winner from Kim Moo-gun helped Korea Republic beat host nation Thailand 2-1 and claim their spot at next year’s AFC U-19 Championship in Bahrain.
The two sides had both won their previous three group games going into the winner takes all encounter, and it was the Koreans who stole an early march on their Southeast Asian opponents when forward Kim Ji-hun opened the scoring with 12 minutes gone at the SCG Stadium.
Thailand were forced to wait for their equaliser, but it duly came in the 69th minute when substitute Sirimongkhon Jitbanj found the net much to the delight of the sizeable home crowd.
Korean forward Lee Dong-jun was shown a straight red card some eight minutes later, before, in a moment of incredible late drama, substitute Kim Moo-gun scored to send the East Asian through to next year’s continental showpiece in Bahrain.
In the group’s first game of the day, Singapore twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Chinese Taipei and finish third ahead of their East Asian opponents who claimed fourth spot.
Chinese Taipei went ahead on 33 minutes through Wang Li-An, but Haiqal Pashia Anugrah drew Singapore level seven minutes later.
Wang thought he had won it for his side with his second some seven minutes from time, only for Pashia to net again to earn the Singaporeans a share of the spoils.
Ten group winners and five (to be confirmed in due course) best second-placed teams will qualify for the finals while hosts Bahrain received an automatic qualification (total 16 teams).