UAE end preparations on sour note

U-23 TEAM GO DOWN TO SOUTH KOREA 2-0 AHEAD OF RIO QUALIFIERS IN QATAR

The UAE’s under-23 team suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea in a friendly match in Al Maktoum stadium in Dubai on Monday. The match was held in preparation of next week’s 2016 AFC U-23 Championship in Qatar, which will be held from January 12-30.

The Qatar competition will serve as the Asian qualifying tournament for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and the UAE must finish in the top three to book their ticket to Brazil.

Substitutes Lee Yeong-jae and Hwang Hee-chan scored a goal apiece in the second half to seal the win for South Korea. The breakthrough came after the hour mark when forward Jin Seong-uk latched on to a floating pass just inside the box and set it up for unmarked medio Lee Yeong-jae, who then shot past a diving UAE custodian Mohammad Saeed into the far corner.

In the 75th minute, striker Hwang Hee-chan just missed the left post on a quick counter. Hee-chan, the 19-year-old forward, then compensated by slotting home from a defencesplitting cross from medio Kwon Chang-hoon in the 85th minute.

The loss was a blow for Abdullah Misfir’s team as this was their last test before the Doha trip. South Korea, who clinched their first bronze at the 2012 London Olympics since their participation at the Games from 1988, will be taking on Saudi Arabia as their last prep match on Thursday.

Not much time

Misfir will not be having any more time to iron out the creases in the side as his players have been released to rejoin their respective clubs for their 14th and 15th rounds of the Arabian Gulf League matches.

UAE, however, has had success in their previous friendlies and should be looking to draw for inspiration from those outings. They defeated China 2-0 in a friendly match at Dubai Officer’s Club on New Year’s Day and on December 23 beat North Korea 3-0.

Led by Al Nasr’s Ahmad Shambeih, will be relying heavily on forwards Al Jazira’s everimproving striker Ahmad Al Attas and Al Wahda forward Mohammad Al Akbari to provide them with the desired result. Al Attas was on target for UAE against China when he scored from a header. The core of the team comprises players mainly from Sharjah and Al Jazira — five from each side. Al Ain duo Saeed Mussabeh and Ahmad Barman also add depth to the side.

Misfir is expected to announce the final 23 from the 27 players after this week’s AGL round. The UAE are placed in Group D which comprises Australia, Jordan and Vietnam. They open their campaign against Australia on January 14, with fixtures against Jordan on January 17 and Vietnam on January 20.