For Kyrgyzstan, hosting the qualifying tournament for the U-16 Asian Championship is not the first time. In 2013, matches of Group F were already held in Bishkek, where the teams of Oman, Qatar, and Kyrgyz Republic played. The Kyrgyz lost to Oman with a score of 3:3 and to Qatar with a score of 3:4, which did not grant the republic the right to participate in the finals of the championship. This year, among the teams in Group B, along with the Kyrgyz team, are Nepal, Oman, and the strongest team according to experts, the Jordanian national team.
The opening ceremony took place the day before, on September 16. In the first opening match, the teams of Nepal and Jordan faced off, with a score of 2:1. The second match was Kyrgyzstan vs. Oman. The youth team of the host country lost to the guests with a score of 2:0.
- For the first 30 minutes, we couldn't find our rhythm. This period turned out to be decisive. In the second half, my players managed to believe in themselves, but they rushed in the final phase of the attack. Undoubtedly, we felt pressure. But this should not be an excuse for the defeat, - characterized the recent match Samat Suimaliev, head coach of the Kyrgyz youth team.
However, the team is not going to give up and is already preparing for matches against Nepal and Jordan, the first of which will take place on Friday, September 18, at 20:00, and the second on Sunday, September 20, at 20:00. Based on the results of the matches, the teams that take the leading position in the group and the second place with the highest number of points will advance to the final part of the U-16 Asian Championship. It will be held among 45 youth teams from 11 groups that passed the qualifying round, in 2016 in India.