Bangladesh face an uphill task to stay in the race for a quarterfinal berth in the AFC Youth (Under-17) Football Championship when they face Iraq today.

In their last group match, Bangladesh who have drawn 1-1 with Uzbekistan and lost 6-1 to top-of-the-table Qatar, must beat Iraq to qualify for the last eight.

Qatar lead group D with six points while Iraq have three points and Bangladesh one.

Both the group matches today will start at Bangladesh time 12 noon with Qatar playing Uzbekistan at the J Village Stadium and Bangladesh facing Iraq at Koriyama.

On Tuesday, Qatar recovered from conceding an early goal against underdogs Bangladesh and scored six second-half goals to record a 6-1 win which sent them through to the last eight.

The Bangladeshis stunned their opponents by taking the lead at the J-Village Stadium after only nine minutes, courtesy of a header by midfielder Rajan Mia. Qatar were coming off a 1-0 win over Iraq but could not find a way past their South Asian opponents in the opening half.

It was a different story in the second half though as the Qataris put their gallant opponents to the sword. Striker Ali Hassan Afef finally broke the stubborn Bangladeshi resistance with Qatar's opening goal on 56 minutes before Marzouq Juma put his side ahead shortly afterwards.

The floodgates opened thereafter with Khalfan Ibrahim scoring in the 71st minute before Afef netted his second goal of the game four minutes later. Yusef Ahmad Ali then got into the act with two late goals to secure a big win for the Gulf side.

Meanwhile, Iraq scored three times in the final 23 minutes to beat Uzbekistan 4-1 as they recovered from their earlier defeat to Qatar to move into second place in Group D.

Iraq should advance to the last eight if they manage a draw against Bangladesh.

GROUP D

(Played, Won, Drawn, Lost, Goal For, Goals Against, Points)

Qatar 2 2 0 0 7 1 6

Iraq 2 1 0 1 4 2 3

Uzbekistan 2 0 1 1 2 5 1

Bangladesh 2 0 1 1 2 7 1