UAE squander lead, go down fighting to China
bandung — The UAE hopes of qualifying for the last 16 stage in the Asian Games football tournament received a setback when they squandered an early lead to go down by the odd goal in three against the Group C leaders China on Sunday.
Mohammed Al Mesmari drew the first blood in the 32nd minute when he latched on to a perfect cross from Ali Al Yahyaee to drive the ball past China’s helpless goalkeeper Chen Wei.
Wei Shihao, however, restored parity six minute later. Then on both the teams battled hard to gain control in a game that ran end-to-end. Yao Junsheng
sealed the fate of the match in the 71st minute when his sensational 35-yard lob beat Mohammed Al Shamsi under the UAE bar.
Massimiliano Maddaloni, head coach of China, told Chinese news agency Xinhua that he was not surprised to see Yao score such a spectacular goal to give China a berth in the knock out stage by vir- tue of this win that took them to the top of the standings. “It is not new for me, as he is an intelligent player and often scored long shots in training,” the Italian coach said.
“I think he (Yao) sensed that the UAE’s goalkeeper was far out of the goal, and grabbed that opportunity,” he explained. Maciej Skorza, head coach of the UAE, regretted that his side ran out of stamina after the break.
“It was a very close match, but my players did not have much energy left in the second half and that gave China more space,” he confessed.
“I know their number six player (Yao) is very good, and we tried to cramp him and cut his chances to shoot,” he said of Yao’s lob.
Vietnam’s men’s football team upset Japan 1-0 to finish top of Group D.
China will play against a thirdplaced team from Group A, B or F on Friday.