UAE and Lebanon share spoils in World Cup qualifying match

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

In the sweltering heat of September, the temperature was further turned up by a notch as the UAE and Lebanon played out a goalless draw at the third round of a World Cup qualifying match in Dubai on Thursday.

Both the teams played a firebrand football right from the beginning with the UAE being more aggressive as they kept on attacking through Ali Mabkhout, Fabio De Lima and Caio Canedo.

Mabkhout had come close to scoring twice in the ninth and 18th minute when his right-footed shots could not get the direction and went haywire.

Mabkhout came closest to scoring in the 32nd minute, when he failed to tap the ball inside the net from a difficult angle as he just managed to find the woodwork, missing it by a whisker.

The UAE kept on attacking and created many chances but they failed to convert them into goals. Caio Canedo had a golden chance to open the scoring in the 45th minute but lost control of the ball and hit it way too high as it went over the net.

Five minutes later, Canedo again could not tap the ball inside the net off a cross from Adel Al Hosani as the first -half ended in 0-0.

The race for the qualification has been heated up by a couple of unexpected results. In one of the biggest upsets, Oman defeated Japan in Group B, while South Korea were held to a goalless draw by a rampant Iraq in Group B.

The UAE are among the top three favourites to qualify for the finals, South Korea and Iran being the other two. With South Korea splitting a point with Iraq, the result can have a vital bearing on the final standings and might boost the UAE’s chances of qualification.

Ali Khaseif was agile as always. He made a brilliant save in the fourth minute to deny Hassan Maatouk of Lebanon a goal.

Khaseif had played an important role in Al Jazira’s march to the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) title and was named as the best goalkeeper of the Year in the recently held Pro League annual awards in Abu Dhabi. Robert Alexander Melki hit a close-range shot, which was saved by Khaseif, who collected the ball with both the hands to all but frustrate the Lebanese international.

The Whites were quite parsimonious in conceding goals in the second round. They had conceded only three goals in four matches whereas they scored a total of 15.

The second-round matches were squeezed into a jam-packed calendar following a three-time postponement due to coronavirus before eventually getting under way in the UAE.

With the attendance allowed at 60 per cent capacity for the first time since the outbreak of the coronvirus, the stadium was buzzing with the drumbeats, chantings and singing of the fans of both the teams.

It was a full house as the fans of both UAE and Lebanon had flocked to the stadium in the full allowed capacity to root for their teams.

“We are here to extend utmost support to our national team. They need our support in this crunch situation where they are fighting to keep the World Cup hopes alive,” said Nadia Al Mehali, who is a die-hard fan of the UAE football team.

Another UAE fan, Ahmed Al Baloushi, came all the way from Al Ain see the match.

“I have been waiting for this for a long time. It is a great pleasure to see our favourite stars in action.

“I wish them all the best for this match and for the rest of the tournament. We are confident our team can pull it off and qualify for the World Cup finals,” said Baloushi.

Before this match both the team have played five times with each other. The UAE defeated Lebanon in three matches and lost one while the one ended in a draw. The UAE had come into the third round on the back of five consecutive wins as they defeated Malaysia 4-0, Thailand 3-1, Indonesia 5-0 and Vietnam 3-2 in the second round to finish on the top of their group. Before that, they had beaten Jordan in a friendly.

Twelve teams have made it to the third round of the qualifiers. Seven group toppers from eight groups and five best runners-up teams qualified from the second round. Qatar, who are the host country will not play the third round as the hosts automatically qualifies for the event.