Hosts nation Bahrain and Saudi Arabia clinched spots in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-19 Football Championship.
In their deciding Group ‘A’ tie, the nationals captured a precious 3-2 victory over Thailand to punch one of the two last-eight tickets from this four-nation group.
Skipper Mohamed Al Hardan (12th, penalty), Mubarak (47th) and Talal Al Naar (51st) were on target for the home team, who finished on six points from three matches. Thailand, whose goals were scored by Sittichok Paso (29th) and Jaided Supachai (84th), suffered their third straight defeat.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia stunned 11-time champions South Korea and sent them out of the tournament with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory.
South Korea took the lead through Kim Geon-Ung (32nd) but the Saudis made a remarkable return and scored twice through skipper Sami Al Naji (38th) and Abdulelah Al Amari (64th) to steal the other quarter-finals ticket.
The results saw three teams – Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and South Korea all level with six points, but with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain coming respectively first and second and enjoying a better head-to-head goal difference. South Korea slipped to third and were thrown out of the competition.
Bahrain dominated most of the proceedings as Al Hardan put them ahead from the spot after Abdulaziz Khalid had been brought down by goalkeeper Korraphat Nareechan following Jassim Redha’s perfectly weighted ball into the box.
The visitors had some serious efforts and they eventually pulled level when Sittichok capitalising on a poor clearance by Husain Jameel with a turn and shot that Habib flapped at with a weak hand.
However, Bahrain regained the lead in the 47th minutes when defender Mubarak netted with a striker’s finish after Mohamed Marhoon’s through ball.
Four minutes later the game was effectively finished as a contest as Bahrain claimed a third. This time it was Al Hardan who played the killer pass, slotting the ball into the path of Al Naar, who slipped the ball past the advancing Korraphat.
With six minutes remaining the Thais guaranteed a fraught finish for the home side when Supachai slid in to convert Suksan Mungpao’s low cross from the left, but Bahrain held on to book their place in the knockout round.
Meanwhile, the concluding matches in Groups ‘B’ and ‘C’ are scheduled for today and will decide the fate of eight teams in the competition.
In Group ‘C’, title holders Qatar (4 points) will face elimination threat when they play Japan (4) at the National Stadium, while Iran (2) take on Yemen (0) at Khalifa Stadium. Both matches are set for 4.30pm kick-off.
In the Iran vs Yemen match, the former must win and hope Qatar stumble against Japan to qualify.
In Group ‘D’, Vietnam (4) and the UAE (1) will battle for the second ticket in the quarter-finals when they take on the already-qualified Iraq (6) and North Korea (0), respectively.