UAE 1 LITHUANIA 1
UAE - Sanqour 90'+3
LITHUANIA - Matulevicius 42'
Man of the match - Khalid Essa (UAE)
Abdulaziz Sanqour scripted a great escape for the UAE on Wednesday night, scoring moments before the final whistle to help the his team get away with a 1-1 draw against Lithuania.
A week after holding Norway to a goalless draw, the UAE were found wanting against the Lithuanians, who put their physical advantage to good use, and it seemed Mahdi Ali's proud record as coach of the senior national team would receive a minor dent at the picturesque Sportplatz Matrei stadium.
Deivydas Matulevicius had put Lithuania ahead with a sharp header in the 42nd minute and, with his team defending stoutly, the UAE seemed headed for their third defeat in 25 matches under Mahdi Ali’s watch.
The UAE did create a few chances, but they never really looked like scoring.
Fortunately for them, the Lithuanians conceded a free-kick just outside the box moments before the final whistle.
Taking the kick, Ahmed Khalil came up with his best attempt of the match – a scorching effort that the diving Lithuania goalkeeper Vytautas Cerniauskas managed to push into the post.
He could do little, though, as Sanqour rushed in to blast home the rebound.
The goal saved his team from the blushes against an opponent ranked 48 places below the UAE (No 65) in the Fifa rankings, but none of the players really looked pleased after the game, promising a much better effort against Paraguay on September 7, in their third and final friendly match before the team returns home from Austria.
With the Al Ain stars joining the team last week following their impressive win over Al Ittihad in the Asian Champions League quarter-final, the team was expected to do better than they did against Norway.
On paper, Wednesday night’s starting XI certainly looked stronger with Mahdi Ali making five changes to the team that took the pitch against Norway.
Mohaned Salem and Ismail Ahmed got the nod ahead of Essa Ahmed and Sanqour in defence; Ali Mabkhout started instead of Ismail Al Hammadi, Omar Abdulrahman took his place in the midfield, replacing Ahmed Ali, while Khalid Essa took the gloves from Ali Kasheif.
Mabkhout, the lone non-Al Ain player among the changes, should have made a dream start in the sixth minute when the Lithuania captain Tadas Kijanskas failed to clear Amer Abdulrahman’s long ball into the box.
His header just lobbed for Mabkhout, but the Al Jazira striker blasted the ball high over the posts.
Khalil did a lot better in the 26th minute, weaving his way past two defenders before unleashing a scorching right-footer, but the shot was just wide of the far post.
Those missed opportunities came back to haunt the UAE in the 42nd minute when Mindaugas Kalonas took advantage of some shoddy defending to cross the ball for Matulevicius, who rose high between defenders and nodded home.
Lithuania, who will start their 2016 European Cup qualifiers against San Marino on Monday, had a few opportunities before that as well, but goalkeeper Essa had done well to deny them, particularly in the 29th minute, when he dived to his left and punched away Kalonas’s curling free kick. The UAE started the second half with the Al Ahli duo of Al Hammadi and Majed Hassan replacing Fardan and Esmail in the midfield, and Sanqour coming in for Walid Abbas.
The changes should have borne fruit in the 60th minute, but the Lithuania goalkeeper made a brilliant stop to deny Al Hammadi.
The UAE were denied a few more times in the following half-hour, but it was Sanqour’s sharp work two minutes into injury time that managed to get the ball in the back of the net to lift some of the gloom.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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