India exit AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers despite 6-0 win over Brunei

India thrashed Brunei 6-0 in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers, with Vibin Mohanan netting a hat-trick, but crashed out after finishing fifth among second-placed teams. Qatar topped the group with nine points, leaving India just outside qualification spots.

HYDERABAD: India was eliminated from the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers despite defeating Brunei Darussalam 6-0 at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday night.

The Blue Colts finished with six points from their three matches, and had to wait a nerve-wracking end to the remaining Group H match between Qatar and Bahrain at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, which the hosts won 2-1, having come back from a goal down to score two injury-time goals.

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Qatar finished top of the group with a perfect record (nine points from three matches), while India ended up second with six points. While the four best second-placed teams (from 11 groups) also qualified, India finished the campaign at number five amongst the group runner-ups.

Midfielder Vibin Mohanan (5’, 7’, 62’) scored a hat-trick, and Mohammed Aimen (87’, 90+7’) netted two, while Ayush Chhetri (41’) got one to his name.

India started with a bang when Muhammed Suhail weaved into the box and cut it back for Vibin, who rode a tackle, before finishing it from close range to give his side the lead in the fifth minute.

The midfielder scored again a couple of minutes later, when his attempted aerial through ball bounced over the Brunei goalkeeper’s head and looped into the net.

The Blue Colts kept plugging in at the Brunei defence, but were either thwarted or missed their chances. Moosa decided to introduce centre forward Parthib Gogoi into the fray in the 32nd minute itself, in order to give his side more of an attacking edge.

Nine minutes later, Ayush added the third, finishing off a fine move that saw him open up the Brunei defence after playing a one-two inside the box with Sreekuttan MS.

Harijan had a couple of close chances when he made smart runs between the lines. On the first occasion, he had just the goalkeeper to beat, but was tackled by Brunei defender Irfan Abdullah, while on the second, his first-time shot off a Vibin cross went inches wide of an open goal.

Aimen was knocking at the Brunei goalmouth as well, and sent his powerful shot in the 83rd minute crashing into the upright. Harijan thought he had scored a minute later, when he tapped in an Aimen cross, but was flagged offside.

Aimen added two more superb goals to make it six, both long rangers in the dying embers of the game, to make it 6-0 for the Blue Colts.

India pressed on in the second half, laying a siege on the Brunei penalty area, but it took them a little over 15 minutes after the restart to score the fourth, Vibin completing his hat-trick with a finely-curled free-kick through the Brunei wall.

Substitutes Sahil Harijan, Aimen, and Soham Varshneya were brought on to make an impact. While the desired impact was there to see in terms of opening up the opposition defence, India lacked the finishing touch.