AFC U23 Championship qualifiers: Pakistan defeats Kyrgyzstan 3-1

KARACHI: Pakistan registered a consolation win at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship qualifiers as they defeated Kyrgysztan 3-1 in Al-Ain on Wednesday.

Pakistan were slotted in Group B of the event with Kyrgyzstan, Jordan and Kuwait.

The Greenshirts went in to play their last match of the tournament against Kyrgyzstan and conceded the first goal of the match scored by Avazbek Otkeev in the 25th minute.

However, captain Saddam Hussain equalised it in the 40th minute to level the match 1-1 at the interval.

Pakistan also got lucky in the second half and as Kyrgyzstan's Manas Karipov scored an own goal in the 55th minute, while youngster Mansor Khan sealed the win for Greenshirts in the 88th minute.

Pakistan managed to finish third in the group of four teams with the win. They played three matches and lost two.

From Group B, Jordan and Kuwait wrapped up as top two teams to book their place in the main event featuring 16 teams at the championship next year.

Pakistan originally went into the competition as the hosts, as the event was chalked out to take place in Lahore on March 23, however, the law-and-order situation in the city after bomb blasts at a church forced the AFC to reschedule the matches.