Bert van Marwijk praised his young UAE side after they defeated Syria 2-0 in Dubai to improve their chances of sealing a play-off spot for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
The national team, third in Group A, made it back-to-back victories in the final round of qualification courtesy of a goal in each half at Al Maktoum Stadium. Caio Canedo struck the first a minute before half-time, then turned provider to tee-up substitute Yahya Al Ghassani in the 70th minute.
The victory keeps the UAE in the group's play-off position with three matches remaining, although they stay eight points off the second automatic berth.
Earlier on Thursday, second-placed South Korea triumphed 1-0 against Lebanon, in fourth, with the latter now four points off the UAE. The UAE next face leaders Iran in Tehran on Tuesday, Asia's top-ranked side booked their place Qatar 2022 with a 1-0 victory on Thursday at home to Iraq.
“First of all, everybody knew how important this game was,” Van Marwijk said afterwards. “And if you want to make a big step you must win, you must get three points. We miss a lot of players, but the new, the young players bring also a lot of new energy to the team, and I think everybody saw that today.
“We didn’t do everything well, but we deserved the victory. They worked unbelievably hard, so again, this is a big step forward.”
The UAE opened the scoring in the 44th minute following fine work by Khalil Ibrahim down his team's left channel. The Al Wahda winger skipped away from his marker, then raced to the byline and cut back the ball. Sensing the opportunity, Canedo raced into the six-yard box and headed past Ibrahim Alma in the Syria goal. It was the Brazil-born forward’s second goal this campaign.
With 20 minutes remaining, Caio helped make safe the result. Latching on to Al Ghassani’s through ball, the Al Ain frontman burst clear before rolling the ball back across to his teammate. Al Ghassani, who had only moments before entered the fray, finished into the empty goal. However, the goal was initially ruled out for offside, only to be overruled by the Video Assistant Referee.
The win was particularly pleasing for the UAE given the lengthy list of key absentees they encountered coming into the game. The hosts were without all-time leading goalscorer Ali Mabkhout, who is unavailable, and Fabio De Lima, who sustained a serious injury earlier this month while playing for club side Al Wasl.
Meanwhile, defender Shaheen Abdulrahman and playmaker Khalfan Mubarak were out injured, with full-back Bandar Al Ahbabi suspended. Playing as the lone striker in Mabkhout’s absence, Caio was voted man of the match.
“Today was a very important win,” he said. “We knew coming into the game that Lebanon had lost. We have to be realistic; we’re fighting for the third place. As the coach said, everything today … the attitude was different, the energy, the young boys helped us a lot.
“I feel very comfortable playing in this position. It’s the position that I had success with my other team for five years in the UAE.
“But the most important is not the individual performance, it’s the collective, the group. And it’s most important that we took one step towards our dream — three points is very important in that.”
Asked if UAE fans should feel comfortable in the team now clinching third place, Van Marwijk said: “Not comfortable, but a little bit more confident. We have to play three games and if we get three points — so, one victory — then it will be very difficult for other teams to get the third place.
“But it’s not 100 per cent sure, so we start concentrating on the next game.”
