The U-23 football event kicked off five days prior to the actual opening of the games. The Group ‘F’ encounter between Pakistan and Thailand saw the latter on constant attack from the word go (Pakistan got one shot at the goal while Thailand 16) while a few good initial saves on Pakistan’s goalkeeper and captain Jafar Khan’s part proved to be futile in the end.
Pakistan were 0-3 at interval with Thailand’s captain Datsakorn Thonglao leading from the front to get them their first and third goals in the 15th and 29th minutes with Teerasil Dangda scoring in 16th minute in between.
The thrashing of the green jerseys continued in the second half, too, with three more coming from the Thai boys sporting royal blue kits in the 59th (Kirati Keawsombut), 65th (Anawin Jujeen) and 73rd (Teerasil Danga again) minutes.
Although they scored no goals, Pakistan did, however, earn three yellow cards when Haider Ali, Mohammad Ahmed and Aurangzeb Baloch were cautioned by referee Sabbagh Ali.
AFP adds: In the other matches of the day, Qatar opened their account with a 0-0 draw against Singapore while the United Arab Emirates were held to a 1-1 draw by Hong Kong.
But Kuwait, Oman and Uzbekistan got their tournament off to winning starts with comfortable opening victories.
Kuwait, recently crowned champions of the West Asian football tournament in Jordan, proved too good for India in Group ‘D’, winning 2-0 with an early strike from Mohammad Alrashedi setting them on their way.
Alazemi Khaled ensured the three points with a fine finish in the 53rd minute. Uzbekistan cruised past Bangladesh 3-0 in Group ‘E’, with first-half goals from Kenja Turaev and Odil Ahmedov putting them firmly in charge before Ivan Nagaev added a late third. In another Group F clash, Oman beat the Maldives 3-0.
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