Yangon: Qatar beat defending champions North Korea 1-0 to win the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship final at the Thuwunna Youth Training Centre here on Thursday.
Akram Afif scored the sole goal in the 52 minute for the West Asians, who capped off an undefeated campaign here with a historic victory for their first AFC championship title since their U-16 Championship victory in 1990.
En route to the final, Qatar displayed amazing efforts to win 3-2 in the semi-final over hosts Myanmar, which required 120 minutes of play to separate the sides.
Three-time winners North Korea, who lifted the trophy in 2006 and 2010, put on an attacking master class with a 5-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan in Monday’s semi-final and also registered a thrilling penalty shoot-out win over Japan in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Myanmar qualified for the U-20 World Cup finals in 2015 for the first time together with Uzbekistan, North Korea and Qatar.
