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China beat Iran 3-0 in AFC
U-17 in Japan September 15, 2004.
(Xinhua) |
China secured their spot in the final of this
year's AFC U-17 Championship thanks to an emphatic
3-0 semi-final win over Iran on Wednesday at the Kusanagi Stadium.
Iran went into the match with a perfect record of four wins in four
matches but it was China that dominated as striker Yang Xu struck the
opener after 14 minutes for his third goal of the competition.
Huang Jie extended the lead in the 39th minute and then sealed the win
with 17 minutes remaining, scoring his second goal of the night.
Iran had scored 12 goals in their previous matches with striker Shahab
Yanpi netting half of that total. However, the Chinese defence proved a
resolute barrier as the Persians failed to score a goal for the first time
in the tournament.
China's reward is a meeting with East Asian
rivals DPR Korea in the final at the Fujeida Stadium on Saturday. The two
teams played each other at Kusanagi during the group stage with China
winning the match 2-1 to finish as Group A winners.
 DPR Korea became the first team to book a place in Saturday's
final of the AFC Under-17 Championship with a 7-6 penalty shootout victory over Qatar after 120
scoreless minutes of football proved incapable of producing a winner.
Johar Abdulaziz Al Kaabi missed Qatar's third penalty after the
shoot-out went in to sudden-death, hitting the post to hand victory to the
Koreans, who now also qualify for next year's FIFA World Under-17
Championship in Peru as one of Asia's three representatives.
The North Koreans dominated the entire 120 minutes of play but were
unable to find the back of the net due a combination of poor finishing,
bad luck and inspired goalkeeping from Qatar's Ghaith Jumah Al Mohannadi,
who threatened to derail
Korea's title bid.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-09-16 09:19