BANGKOK: Korea Republic kicked off the AFC U-19 Championship 2010 Group E qualifiers in fine style with a 5-0 victory over Bangladesh at the Royal Thai Army Stadium on Sunday. Lee Jae-gwan, Lee Hak-min (two), Jang Hyun-soo and Suk Hyun-jun were on target for the Koreans, who led 4-0 at half-time.
Hosts Thailand also hit the ground running with a 3-0 victory over Macau, while Vietnam picked up three points by beating Laos 4-1.
Vaingan Visarut and Atthapol Thomma put Thailand 2-0 inside the first 17 minutes and Khamrin Natthawut added a third with nine minutes remaining.
Vietnam struck a triple blow near half-time to destroy Laos’ victory hopes at the Thai Japanese Stadium.
Nguyen Dinh Bao opened the scoring in the 43rd minute and hit Laos again a minute into first-half injury time. And just when Laos were desperate for the half-time whistle, Nguyen Hai Huy hit a third for Vietnam.
The Vietnamese added a fourth five minutes after the break before Laos could finally breach their opponents defences with Saysana Sopha scoring a consolation in the 59th minute.
The top two teams from all seven groups, along with the best third-placed teams from East and West Asia, qualify for next year’s AFC U-19 Championship 2010 finals.