UAE clinch third place in Under 17 Gulf Cup

'it is some consolation,' says Ali Ibrahim, the UAE coach.

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The UAE took some consolation from the Under 17 Gulf Cup by winning the third-place play-off against Oman on Monday night.

With the scores tied at 1-1, the match went to a penalty shoot-out, which the UAE won 4-2.

Saudi Arabia were crowned champions after beating hosts Qatar 4-3 in another shoot-out, following a 2-2 draw.

"Indeed it is some consolation," said Ali Ibrahim, the UAE coach, about his side's win. "The boys showed character in coming out to win third place after the disappointment of losing to Qatar in a shoot-out in the semi-finals.

"When I think of that game [with Qatar], we were in front until the last 30 seconds of injury time and to concede a goal and [then] lose the match in a shoot-out was really disappointing.

"But that's how the game goes. After all this is football and we are dealing with players less than 17 years of age. They will learn from the mistakes and as coaches we can only keep working with them to improve on the weaker areas."

"We will take the positives from this championship and start preparing for the Asian Cup. The moral of the players were up and a lot of enthusiasm shown to win the play-off."

Ibrahim's players will face Yemen in the U17 Asian Cup opener away on September 12. They are in Group B and the other teams include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives and Kuwait.

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