The UAE will require a vastly improved performance against Iraq on Tuesday evening if their World Cup qualification hopes are not going to expire in Basra.
Cosmin Olaroiu acknowledged his side had been “terrible” and struck by the stress of the last-chance situation they are in, after the first leg in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
“We cannot build properly from the back, we cannot pass the first line of pressing they have,” Olaroiu, the national team coach, complained inside Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium after that 1-1 draw.
Now the UAE are up against a 65,000 capacity crowd in a city known for the passion of its football supporters. They are without some key figures through injury. And only the winners will advance to the final qualification play-off in Mexico next year.
The stakes could hardly be much higher. And yet the UAE are still in with a chance, and Olaroiu will know well the improvements that need to be made for them to contend.
Defensive set pieces
The national team have an obvious Achilles heel: each of the last three goals they have conceded have come because of their inability to defend set pieces.
Akram Afif’s precise delivery did for them twice in the Asian qualifier play-off against Qatar in Doha last month.
Then, 10 minutes into the first leg of the play-off against Iraq, they failure to adequately clear another cross into the box from a free-kick sent them a goal behind.
They should be able to organise themselves enough to repel crosses into their box from set plays. Having a diminutive left-back in the form of Ruben Canedo means they need more height elsewhere in the back line.
Olaroiu has drafted in the Al Nasr defender Gustavo Alex, while Kouame Autonne might be in for an immediate recall.
Better discipline
A fail-safe way of keeping out crosses from attacking free-kicks is not to make fouls in dangerous positions in the first place.
The concessions against Qatar were cheap, while against Iraq there were a succession of giveaways which the UAE were lucky not to concede from.
“They play in their way,” Olaroiu said of Iraq after the first leg. “They use their physicality. They use these long balls to the strikers.
“They win every time, the first ball, the second ball. And they dominate us in this situation.
“In the set pieces, they had six corners and five free-kicks in the first half. We survived these situations but a few times we made terrible mistake and [Khalid Essa, the UAE goalkeeper] saved us.”
Making use of Sultan Adil
For all the problems the UAE faced at the back in the first leg, they travelled to Basra on even terms, and knowing they can do damage to Iraq’s backline themselves.
Despite Iraq’s aerial dominance and physicality, the UAE showed they could threaten when they made it into the final third.
Luan Pereira’s finish was decisive when Abdullah Ramadan played in an appetising cross from the right-hand side for the equalising goal.
They thought they had the game won from a late free-kick that Caio Lucas bundled in from close range, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
The UAE would benefit if they can get more crosses in the direction of Sultan Adil. The forward is a physical presence, and the national team need to make better use of him than they managed on Thursday.
Arnie-ball threat
All the threats Iraq posed in Abu Dhabi felt strangely familiar. There is a good reason for that. The UAE were knocked out of a similar last-chance play-off four years ago by an Australia side managed by Graham Arnold, who is now in charge of Iraq.
After Thursday’s game, Arnold played down the idea that he has transposed the method he used with Australia back in 2022 to his side now.
He pointed out that the UAE side is much changed to that of four years ago. Only Essa, Ramadan and Harib Abdallah were in the starting XI from that game against Australia and the game against Iraq on Thursday.
He was, though, pleased with the mode of playing of his new charges. “You play players to their strengths and the way I'm feeling is I'm getting the maximum out of every player for Iraq and out of the team and that's the most important thing,” Arnold said.
“The Iraqi national team do that, never play like that. They're pressing, and they’re doing very well. It’s missing the individual to put the ball in the back of the net, but they’re making the chances and it's positive.”
