AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: India beat Brunei 6-0; bow out of qualification race

The India U23 men’s national team defeated Brunei Darussalam 6-0 in their last match in Group H of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.

The Blue Colts defeated Bahrain (2-0), lost to hosts Qatar (1-2), before earning the victory against Brunei Darussalam.

With these results, they finish the qualifiers with six points from their three matches, securing second place in the group stage but failing to qualify for their maiden AFC U23 Asian Cup.

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, 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.

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.

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.