UAE go down to Gabon
dubai — Alberto Zaccheroni’s experiment came to a naught when the UAE finished winless in a fourteam King’s Cup following their solitary goal defeat to Gabon, 17 places below them at 95 in the FIFA rankings, on Sunday in the King’s Cup at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok.
The 64-year-old, who led Japan to the AFC Asian Cup title in 2011, had dropped gifted playmaker
We do have a problem of scoring goals Ahmed Eliasi
Omar Abdulrahman and frontman Ali Mabkhout for the King’s Cup tournament.
Gabon, playing without their Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, scored the winner in the 14th minute when Levy Madinda hammered home a left-footed volley from the top of the box after Mario Limina had juggled the ball to send UAE central defender Amer Abdulrahman on the wrong foot before tapping across for Madinda to fire home the match winner.
Zaccheroni had dropped star UAE duo — gifted playmaker Omar Abdulrahman and striker Ali Mabkhout — for the King’s Cup. It is not known what made the Italian coach take that brave call but their absence was felt, especially when Ahmad Khalil missed a scoring chance by hitting straight to the Gabon keeper.
The UAE went down fighting to Slovakia, who defeated hosts Thailand 3-2 for the title, by the odd goal in three. Ahmed Khalil was the lone UAE scorer in that match.
The Whites have scored only four goals in last ten matches that they have played under Zaccheroni, who took over from Argentine Edgardo Bauza in last October.
“We do have a problem of scoring goals,” UAE defender Ahmed Eliasi was quoted as saying by the London-based Arabic website elaph.com after UAE’s defeat to Gabon in Bangkok.
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