Canberra // The UAE got their 2015 Asian Cup campaign off to a dream start after coming back from a goal down to thrash Gulf Cup of Nations champions Qatar 4-1 yesterday.
Mahdi Ali’s men matched Australia’s scoreline against Kuwait on the opening night to leave the coach delighted with the result.
“I am very happy with this win. Usually, a coach is optimistic when he sees the players doing their best, how disciplined they are, how much effort they are putting in their training, doing what I want,” he said.
“That is one of the main reasons I was confident for this game, I was sure they will play well and do their best. But, of course, this is football you can never expect the result.”
The UAE were the more energetic side from the start but fell behind in the 22nd minute to a superb volley by Khalfan Ibrahim, last year’s AFC Player of the Year runner-up.
The Emiratis did not panic, though, and almost equalised straight away from an Ahmed Khalil header that was saved by Qassem Burhan.
“Before the game I had told the players, there are 90 minutes and we play to the final whistle,” Mahdi Ali said. “Whatever happens we try to do our best and stick to our task.”
Omar Abdulrahman had started on the right wing in Mahdi Ali’s surprise 4-4-2 formation and initially seemed to be off the pace after a long injury lay-off.
As he began to drift into the centre, things improved for the Emiratis. After 37 minutes Abdulrahman started the move – and later reclaimed possession – that led to Abdulaziz Sanqour crossing for Khalil. His header was cleared off the line but the rebound hit his chest and went in for the equaliser.
The UAE pressed their advantage at the start of the second half. Khalil scored again with an excellent free kick, inside the far post from the left corner of the box, in the 52nd minute.
Four minutes later, the Qatari goalkeeper failed to hold Khamis Ismail’s dipping free kick and Ali Mabkhout tapped in from close range.
Mabkhout ended a memorable day for Mahdi Ali’s team with a goal in the final minute after several interchanges with Omar Abdulrahman.
“We worked very hard for this match, because it was the key game in the competition,” Mahdi Ali said. “We have three steps in the first round and the first one is very important because it gives the team more confidence and more motivation to do their best in the second game.”
The Emiratis face Bahrain on Thursday. Mahdi Ali said the players remain focused.
“We always think about improvement, because we define success as being better than yesterday,” he said.
“We played a good game; there were so many good things from the team. But also we have to work hard.
“I don’t want to say it in the press conference, but there are many things we can work harder on if we want to go far in the competition.”
Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi took “no positives” from the match as they were left staring at an early exit. “When you lose 4-1 in the first game there’s nothing to take, there’s nothing positive,” an angry Belmadi said.
“Now we have to play against Iran, who qualified for the last World Cup. We are already under pressure after the game today and we have to make it a massive match. When you analyse the goals there were a lot of individual mistakes.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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