UAE Set Sights on Quarters Berth

Jakarta, MINA — The UAE will take on hosts Indonesia in the last 16 of the Asian Games football tournament match at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium on Friday, The Gulf Today reported.

The hosts beat Hong Kong 3-1 on Monday to finish at Patriot Candrabaga Stadium to top Group A. While the UAE finished third in Group C after two losses from three games.

They lost to China 2-1 and Syria 1-0, but defeated East Timor 4-1 to progress as one of the four best third-placed teams in the competition, along with Hong Kong, Bahrain (Group E) and Saudi Arabia (Group F).

The UAE will miss the services of midfielder Jassim Yaqoub, who was sent back home after medical examinations proved he needed some rest following the injury he sustained in the match with East Timor. The team will also miss the services of Majid Suroor as he had got two yellow cards in the preliminary games.

The administrative and technical staff of the team prepared the players from the psychological perspective and urged them through daily meetings to play in a way that lives up to the reputation of the UAE football.

The staff also requested the players to forget about preliminary matches and concentrate on today’s match because the playoff matches are different from preliminary matches.

The technical manager of the UAE Olympic team said the match would not be easy but at the same time he added that he trusted the team and was confident that they will achieve a positive result and book a place in the quarter-finals.

He pointed out that the match would be difficult because it will combine the team with the hosts, who will do their best to make the people who would watch the match happy.

“I talked to the players and requested them not to miss a chance to win the match as this will have a positive impact on both the players and the technical staff”, he said.

The technical manager admitted that the team did not play as expected in the preliminary matches but at the same time they did not deserve to lose to Syria and China.

“We were the better in both matches but missed a lot of opportunities. Qualifying as the best third proved that the players had great potential and their performance improved from one match to another”, he said. .(T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)