Con un 4-1 che non lascia spazio a recriminazioni, la Corea supera il Nepal e si guadagna il passaggio ai quarti di finale della manifestazione continentale.
Dopo 4 minuti Ju Hyon-hyok sblocca l’incontro e 19 minuti dopo Choe Song-hyok raddoppia. Al 27 il Nepal si riaffaccia con Tamang, ma dopo appena 60 secondi e di nuovo doppio vantaggio, grazie al gol di Han Kwang-song. Nel recupero del primo tempo è ancora Choe Song-hyok a porre la parola fine alla gara.
La ripresa è controllata dai coreani.
Nell’altra gara l’Uzbekistan regola 4-2 il Kuwait.

Fra due giorni tutti i quarti:
SudCorea-Giappone
Australia-Malesia
Uzbekistan-Siria
RPDC-Iran

AFC U-16 C’ship MD3: DPR Korea 4-1 Nepal

Bangkok: Former champions DPR Korea ensured a return to the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship as Group C runners-up after Thursday’s entertaining 4-1 win at Rajamangala Stadium ended Nepal’s hopes of a maiden appearance in the knockout stage.
Ju Hyun-hok and Choe Song-hyok handed 2010 champions DPR Korea a comfortable lead midway through the first half only for Ananta Tamang to respond for Nepal, who only needed a point to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time.
But with Han Kwang-song and Choe Song-hyok netting for DPR Korea before half-time, Yon Kwang-mu’s side claimed the win they needed to ensure a place in Sunday’s quarter-finals against Group D winners Iran after Uzbekistan beat Kuwait 4-2 to top Group C.
“At the beginning of the match we were cautious, but as the game went on I felt better, and as the result shows we won and I am happy. We will now go to next stage and I will try and make a plan to be successful in the next match,” said DPR Korea coach Yon.
“Iran are a strong team and I think this match will not go smoothly as I think our team is very strong, so I will make a plan to display our strong team spirit in the next match.
“As we go up to the next stage it will be more difficult, and as a coach I will carefully make a plan to make the players display their team spirit well.”
Nepal began the contest knowing they only needed a point to advance to the knockout stage for the first time following Tuesday’s win over Kuwait, while 2010 champions DPR Korea had to win to avoid a second consecutive group stage exit.
And DPR Korea made the ideal start as centre-back Ju was on hand to turn home a right-wing free-kick at the back post after just four minutes.
Nepal almost hit back eight minutes later, but after beating the DPR Korea offside trap, Belgium-based striker Bimal Gharti Magar fired straight at the legs of goalkeeper Ri Chol-song from inside the penalty area.
And with the end-to-end nature of the contest continuing, Han Kwang-song struck the foot of the Nepal post with a low drive from the edge of the area three minutes later with goalkeeper Roman Rasaili at full stretch.
But DPR Korea did double their lead after 23 minutes as Choe fired low past Rasaili from the edge of the six yard area after capitalising on a mistake from Amit Tamang.
Nepal, though, halved the deficit just three minutes later as Ananta Tamang met Amit Tamang’s free-kick from close to the near touchline with a glancing header at the near post to beat Ri.
But barely a minute later DPR Korea restored their two-goal advantage as Han created space for himself on the edge of the Nepal penalty area before guiding a low strike into the bottom corner past Rasaili.
And in the first minute of added time at the end of the opening 45 minutes, Choe’s diving header from Park Yong-gwan’s left-wing cross extended DPR Korea’s advantage.
Both sides continued to open nature of the contest in the second half and DPR Korea twice came close to adding to their lead either side of the hour mark only for Nepal goalkeeper to deny Jong Chang-bom.
But with neither side able to add to their first half tallies, Nepal saw their campaign ended after suffering a first defeat of the campaign.
“The boys tried hard, but we were not successful,” said Nepal coach Bal Gopal Maharjan.
“We didn’t play well in the first 20 minutes, but after that we were able to start to build. But we conceded silly goals and we were unable to follow our plan.
“We played well in the first two matches and maybe the players got excited about being able to qualify for the quarter-finals.”