Defending champions UAE rode on a hat-trick by Ahmed Khalil to breeze into the quarter-finals of the AFC Under-19 Championships being held in China when they romped past Vietnam 4-0 Zibo Sports Centre Stadium on Friday.

The Al Ahli striker showed why he has become a regular member of the UAE senior national team with an inspired performance to seal their place in the last eight with Group C winners Japan.
All three of Khalil’s goals came in the first 30 minutes before Omar Abdulrahman converted a second-half penalty as Juma Rabeeh’s side produced easily their best performance of the tournament to bounce from a loss to Japan and a goalless draw against Jordan.
Desperately needing a win to qualify whereas Vietnam who beat Jordan could have settled for a draw, UAE went on the attack from the onset and were richly rewarded for their efforts.
It took them just six minutes for UAE to open the scoring as Khalil latched onto a pass just inside the area and prodded a shot to the left of the onrushing goalkeeper Tan Anh Duc. The ball was helped on its way into the net by a Vietnam defender.
The South East Asians almost came close to equalising when a cross by Trinh Hoa Hung in the 19th minute found Nguyen Van Quyet unmarked inside the area but the defender’s powerful header was stopped by Ahmad Mohammad.
UAE got their second four minutes later when Rashed Hassan Ali broke on the right before finding Khalil who side-footed home shrugging off the attention of a defender.
The irresistible Khalil then put the game beyond Vietnam when he completed his hat-trick in the 27th minute as he again combined with Hassan Ali, powering home from close range after being picked out by the Al Shabab midfielder.
The UAE maintained their dominance at the start of the second half as Hassan Ali fired wide after 48 minutes before Salem Saleh’s shot was blocked by Anh Duc and Mubarak Abdulla’s effort was charged down after he had sliced through the Vietnam defence.
But the UAE sealed victory in style with 15 minutes remaining after Saleh was felled just inside the area by Anh Duc and Abdulrahman coolly dispatched the resulting penalty with the goalkeeper going the wrong way.
UAE assistant coach Abdelmajeed Alnemer feels the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship has still to see the best of 19-year-old Khalil who only joined up with rest of his team-mates shortly before the start of the tournament due to commitments with the senior national team.
 “Khalil has not been with us a long time, he only joined us late,” said Alnemer.
“He needed two or three days to be comfortable with the other players and also maybe two games to find his form.
“I believe that he will play even better in the next game.”
Alnemer was delighted his players were able to produce arguably their best performance of the tournament so far.
“This was the last chance for three teams,” he added.  
“Vietnam just needed a draw today to qualify while Jordan also had a chance.
“We watched (Vietnam) yesterday on video and we discussed the changes we needed to make. We had to win and score also so I chose to select the players I believed could do this.
“This game was like a final. If you lose you are out so we had to put in everything today and my players did this.”
Vietnam coach Trieu Quang Ha was understandably disappointed but conceded they were outplayed by the UAE.
“Congratulations to the UAE,” he said.
“We only needed one point to qualify and our plan was to defend and rely on counter attacks. However, the UAE is a very strong team and it was too difficult for us.
“This tournament has been good for our young players. The experience was good for them and will help their development for the future.”