Clash of Titans today as Iraq take on S Arabia in AFC U-19 championship

It will be a clash of Titans as title contender Saudi Arabia face title aspirants Iraq in a Group A qualifiers final of the AFC U-19 Championship today (Wednesday) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 7pm, reports BSS. Both the teams won their first three matches with flying colour and today's (Wednesday) clash would decide who will be the champion of this meet as both teams confirmed their berth for the final round irrespective of the result of today's encounter. But before that grand finale hosts Bangladesh faces Oman at 4:00 pm to redeem their earlier drubbings in this meet. Bangladesh and Omam both lost two of their three matches and will be looking for a consolation win to finish the competition on a winning note. Bangladesh coach Nikola Ilievski in a pre- match briefing on Tuesday urged his boys to show their character. He said, "After playing against two tough opponents hopefully my boys have learnt a lesson and will try their best to stamp the authority with a total teamwork efforts," said the Macedonian. "Definitely Oman is a strong team but they are ranked not as good as Saudi Arabia and Iraq and I believe that with a teamwork game the boys would be able to deliver something better than the previous two matches" said Ilievski. The Bangladesh team has no serious injury and defender Topu Barman is all set to return after missing the last match due to two yellow card suspension. Oman coach Abdul Aziz Semida felt he had nothing to lose. "We want to wrap the campaign with a win, we are aware that the hosts will leave no stone unturned to stamp their authority" said Semida. In another pre-match briefing on Tuesday, Saudi coach Khalid Al Koroni expressed confidence of winning the match. "We arrived here to win the group and are one match away from our goal. We have already qualified for the finals and the players are now free from any pressure, so it is the time to display their best against a formidable opponent" said the Saudi coach.