After a resounding 3-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan in the 2026 World Cup qualifier, UAE team manager Paulo Bento has no time to waste as he prepares his players for the return match against Qatar in four days.
The Portuguese has urged his players to “rest and recover” and keep their minds at ease instead of thinking too much of their next game at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. UAE had defeated Qatar in their earlier clash 3-1 in September.
“We don’t have to think too much of the upcoming game against Qatar, but it's important we rest now, allow the players to recover as much as possible, then begin our preparations,” Bento said at the post-match conference following the win over the Central Asian side on Thursday.
The win over Kyrgyzstan moved the UAE to seven points alongside Qatar after the latter overcame Uzbekistan 3-2 on the same night.
Iran are out on their own on 13 followed by Uzbekistan (10). Kyrgyzstan and North Korea are at the bottom with three and two points respectively.
“It was important to win against Kyrgyzstan and was fairly achieved. But this is not the time to think too much of our next game,” Bento added.
The top two teams from each of three groups will book their spots at the expanded 48-team tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The six third and fourth-placed teams will be split into two groups of three with the winners of each group playing off for a spot at the finals. The losers of that game will get one last chance in the intercontinental play-off.
“There is more than one way to reach the World Cup and we need to try as much as we can to go all the way to be there,” Bento said of his team’s hopes of earning a second opportunity to secure a place in the finals.
“This is not the best time to just spend too much energy thinking about the World Cup and the game against Qatar but of course, on the pitch they need to be able to take all those decisions.”
Qatar’s victory over Uzbekistan has left the Group A delicately poised with five games left for the top two to book their direct passage into the World Cup.
“I think people consider Iran and Qatar as the two favourites to go directly to the World Cup but nothing was decided after the game between Qatar and Uzbekistan, and nothing is decided after our win over Kyrgyzstan,” Bento said.
“For us, it was an important three points. We are aware of the rivalry that exists against Qatar.”
Harib Abdallah was twice on target and Marcus Meloni struck in between for the UAE to bounce back from their defeats to Iran and Uzbekistan, and a 1-1 draw over North Korea.
Reflecting on their win over Kyrgyzstan, Bento felt his side controlled the game better in the second half, even though they scored twice in the first 45 minutes before striking the third a minute from time.
“We controlled the second half a little bit better,” he said. “In the first half, we had some difficulties to avoid certain aspects in the offensive moments of the opponent.
“But at the end, I think that we didn't concede too much. We created some good chances. Not all the time we took the best decisions in offence but it was not an easy moment for the guys as well.
“They were responsible for the goals, their quality and their talent. We made a good game, achieving a good result, but with many aspects to improve and some of them individually as well.
“It is important to make that as soon as possible because now we are not going to have too many days to prepare for the next game.”
Kyrgyzstan arrived on the back of a win over Qatar and their manager Maxim Lisitsyn conceded they didn’t take the chances that came their way and had to face the consequences.
“For us, every game is a big game and we know there are no weak teams at this level,” he said.
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight but we’ll continue to follow our plans. We created a lot of scoring opportunities but unfortunately we couldn’t get that final touch.”
