UAE bow out of Gulf Cup as Yemen and Iraq share spoils

DOHA: UAE bowed out of the Gulf Cup after going down fighting against Qatar in their must-win match on Monday.

Qatar only needed a draw to reach lastfour while UAE had to win to keep their semifinals hopes alive, which put extra pressure on the visitors.

Akram Afif, who was named AFC Asian Player of the Year, earlier in the day, lived up to his reputation once again to steer Qatar to semis with a superb brace.

Afif broke the deadlock in the 20th minute to put Qatar ahead 1-0. As the match progressed, UAE tried hard to restore the parity.

But contrary to it, eight minutes later, the Qatar’s star striker was on the target once again and extended the lead to 2-0 through a penalty.

However, UAE’S Ali Mabkhout reciprocated five minutes later and scored the first goal for the visitors in the 33rd minute to make it 3-1.

After the half-time break, a resilient UAE were more aggressive in the field came close to scoring several times.

In the 77th minute, once again Mabkhout struck to reduce the deficit to 3-2. With 13 minutes remaining, UAE were marching relentlessly toward their goal of keeping their hopes of last-four berth alive.

But in the dying moments, Al Saad defender Boualem Khoukhi scored another goal to seal a victory for the hosts and all but end the UAE’S hopes of reaching semi-final.

In the other match of the day, Iraq and Yemen played a goalless draw to share spoils. Iraq had already qualified for the semis with six points.

This was a dead rubber for them. Now they are at the top of the group with seven points. While Yemen finished at the bottom with just one point after two losses and one draw.

Yemen were beaten by the UAE in the opening match of the tournament. In their second match they had to face another defeat against the host Qatar which ended their hopes of reaching the semis.