Paulo Bento believes his UAE team are in “good shape” to build on their spectacular win over Qatar ahead of taking on another regional powerhouse in Iran.
In their opening World Cup qualifier, the UAE defeated rivals Qatar 3-1 in Doha and now face an Iranian side that also came out on top last Thursday when they overcame Kyrgyzstan 1-0.
The national team's first win over the reigning Asian champions since the 4-1 triumph back in 2015 arrived courtesy of goals from Harib Abdallah, Khalid Al Dhanhani and Ali Saleh, after Ibrahim Mohammed had put Qatar in front.
And next up in Group A will be World Cup finals regulars Iran at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Tuesday with Bento believing his new-look side will be raring to build on the sensational win in Al Rayyan.
“After the win against Qatar, we are good regarding the confidence, but more important than that is after a good result, it's normal for the preparation to be a little bit easier,” the Portuguese said at the pre-match conference on Monday.
“We are in good shape to face a very strong opponent, a very good quality, experience side, and a team of course that is going to demand a lot in many aspects, not just in the technical and tactical ones, but also in the physical aspect.”
However, history will be against Bento’s men as UAE have recorded only one win in 19 attempts against Iran – a friendly victory at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi in 1997. Their head-to-head tournament record (in World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup) stands at 11 defeats and three draws since 1984.
“Iran is a strong team,” Bento said. “The players have wide range of knowledge. This will help them prepare for the game in an easier way. The players have a good mentality.
“It's difficult to find weak points on the Iranian side. It's a team that control and dominate all the movements. So, we should be strong in the duels. We should have ambition to try to attack in the right moments.
“At the same time, we should be humble as well, to respect Iran's potential and sometimes suffering, sometimes play with the block a little bit lower because they are going to provoke that.
“We obviously want to win and write history. But to achieve this we need to put up a strong performance. We have to show that we are a team that can win.
“We have talked with the players about the tactics and the way to bring more improvements from the game against Qatar.”
Iran are aiming for a fourth consecutive appearance in the World Cup and seventh overall and manager Amir Ghalenoei acknowledged that he expects to see an improved performance from his side against UAE.
“Our team is much better prepared than the first game. We have analysed our own the game against Kyrgyzstan and the game between UAE and Qatar,” Ghalenoei said.
“UAE can be a very dangerous team, especially in the quick attacks and counter-attacks that we had seen in their last two to three games.
“I'm sure this match is going to be of very high quality. The two teams have very good knowledge of each other and this is the second time that we are going to face each other this year after the Asian Cup [which Iran won 2-1].
“The circumstances in this match, however, are going to be very different. We have prepared ourselves very well for this second match.”
And Ghalenoei insisted the fact Iran failed to hit anything like top gear against Kyrgyzstan was not an issue and that he was fully expecting an improved showing in Al Ain.
“We created several chances and could have won by a bigger margin but it didn’t happen. Yes, we didn’t have a good game but you can’t play at the same high level in every game,” he said.
“It was also the first match and that happens with any team. That game has also made us more determined to produce a better game and that you’ll see against the UAE.”
