DUSHANBE, October 8, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik national under-16 football team have proved that their easy win against Bahrain on the first day of the Group B AFC (Asian Football Confederation) U-16 CUP qualifiers was no fluke, drawing the game against Iran’s U-16 football team, who are the defending champions, yesterday.
The match ended 0-0.
Iran is the defending champions and the only nation among the five teams which has qualified for the World Cup finals on a regular basis.
We recall that Tajikistan, Iran, Bahrain, Lebanon, Nepal and Maldives are contesting Group B. Our football players with four scores put themselves in prime position in their group. Teams of Bahrain and Lebanon are occupying the second and third places and Iranians still have only one score.
The AFC U-16 Championship is a football competition, organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-16 teams that also serves as a qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top 4 countries qualify to participate in the U-17 World Cup.
Teams are divided in eight groups and all the groups with six teams, the winner and runners-up of each group will qualify for the AFC U-16 Championship 2010 (Finals). For the one group with three teams (Group H: Australia, Malaysia, Laos), only the group winner will qualify. And the one best third-placed team from all the groups with six teams will qualify for the AFC U-16 Championship 2010 (Finals).
