NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA // Mahdi Ali said his UAE side would learn valuable lessons from their disappointment at losing 2-0 to Australia in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup yesterday.
The UAE were on the backfoot throughout after going behind to a Trent Sainsbury header in only the third minute, and Jason Davidson’s 14th-minute goal ensured the Australians had a cushion they would not relinquish for the rest of proceedings.
But despite missing out on a first final appearance since 1996, Mahdi Ali insisted that a tournament that had seen them losing narrowly in the group stages to Iran, the highest-placed Asian side in the Fifa rankings before the tournament, get the better of pre-tournament favourites Japan in the quarter-finals, and then fall to the hosts, would only improve his squad in the long term.
“I think playing under such pressure, playing every three days with strong teams and in strong, strong games, it’s a big experience,” he said.
“I said at the beginning of the match you have to concentrate. There are some critical times in games, the first 15 minutes, end of first half, beginning of the second half.
“We lost concentration in the first 15 minutes and conceded two goals. That’s a big lesson. You have to know that in such big games we have to concentrate for 90. Mistakes are not accepted, otherwise you lose the game.”
Mahdi Ali conceded that the poor start had made it almost impossible for his side in their bid to reach Saturday’s final.
“In such big games, important games like a semi-final, it’s not easy to receive two goals through mistakes in the first 15 minutes, especially when you are playing against the host team in front of a big crowd.
“It was very difficult to get back into the game, this affected us a lot, we tried our best but it was not easy. Australia won because they were the better side today.”
The UAE’s pre-tournament target was to reach the last four and, though proud of his team for achieving that goal, Mahdi Ali said he was still disappointed not to go further.
“When we came here we aimed to get to the semi-final, we got that,” he said. “Although that was not our big dream. Our big dream was to get the title, since the beginning of this competition that has never happened for the UAE. But this is football and you have to come back, and work hard in the future.”
Friday’s 1-1 draw with Japan in the quarter-finals, where they had gone 120 minutes against the Japanese before going through on penalties, had proven tough for the UAE to recover from in time for yesterday, Mahdi Ali said.
That was especially difficult against the Australians, who had played their last-eight match against China on Thursday and had had an extra 24 hours to prepare.
“Two days were not enough for us, for some players to come back,” he said. “But anyway we tried our best.
“I would like to thank the players they tried very hard in the second half, although they were tired. This is football and in the end one team wins.
“We lost so many balls, many passes and Australia got the benefit of this and were the better side today.”
The UAE’s time at the tournament is not over as they will remain in this city on the country’s mid-east coast until Friday when they face Iraq in the third-fourth place play-off.
Mahdi Ali has the task of raising his weary side for another effort.
akhaled@thenational.ae
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