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Teamwork secured victory, says Yemen’s Al Garash
Jeddah: Mohammed Al Garash admits he’s not at his peak for Yemen, but says it’s more important that they win as a team at the AFC U17 Asian Cup™ Saudi Arabia 2025.
The 16-year-old defender scored Yemen's second from the penalty spot to ease 2-0 past Afghanistan on Friday as the West Asian side ended the day top of Group C. 

#AFCU17 | Group C: Yemen 2–0 Afghanistan

#AFCU17 | Group C: Yemen 2–0 Afghanistan

“We won today collectively and not individually and everybody is happy with this,” said the 16-year-old, whose 27th minute spot-kick was his third successful conversion after scoring twice in their 3-2 comeback win against Kyrgyz Republic in the Qualifiers.

The Ittihad-IBB player, however, thinks he can be of more service to his team.

“I’m satisfied with my effort today although I know I can do better,” he said. “But I’m more proud of our performance as a team because we did our best and claimed three points.”
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Having also netted four times in the Qualifiers, Al Garash’s goal played its part in placing Yemen in a good position to make the knockout stage and book their ticket to the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025.

They play Indonesia, who stunned Korea Republic 1-0 in their opener, on Monday.
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Head coach Samer Saleh concurred with Al Garash on their win as a team.

“We played as one today and followed a set system,” he said. "All our lines played well but maybe the offensive line wasted some opportunities.

“Afghanistan were very strong, especially in the second half, but we played a well-balanced game, kept the momentum going and managed to achieve our goal going into the match.”
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Afghanistan head coach Elias Manuocher said they were let down by their first-half mistakes.

“Our first was when keeper Mohammad Muradi came out and then our defence gave away the penalty,” he said. “It was a bad day for us despite doing our best in the second half," said Manuocher, whose side now have to beat a hurting Korea Republic on Monday to revive their campaign.