The UAE remain full of confidence ahead of next week's World Cup qualifiers against North Korea and Saudi Arabia, according to the team's influential forward Ismail Matar. They were beaten 3-2 by Bahrain after a sluggish display at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in the capital on Friday, but Matar believes the Emirates will be back to their best next week when they play North Korea at the same venue. "The result with Bahrain wasn't that important as the match was really to give us a strong game before the real test," said Matar. "It was an exceptionally humid night and was difficult for all the players as we have just returned from a month-long camp in Europe. But I don't see any problems in adapting to the conditions a week from now. "It's hard to say why we didn't play as well as we can, but sometimes this happens. We created chances and scored a good goal - the idea of this match was to learn from our mistakes. "We will be looking for a lot of character, a lot of strength and a lot of team work, getting together and making sure as a unit we are a strong side. "If we do that, with the ability we have, we won't have a problem." Bahrain were without six of their overseas-based players who were not released by their clubs as the match did not fall on a Fifa-sanctioned friendly date. The UAE conceded two goals from corner kicks and a bad fumble from the goalkeeper Ismail Rabea gifted the visitors a late winner. Syed Adnan put Bahrain ahead with a header from a corner, but Matar levelled from the spot after a clumsy tackle on him by Fawzi Mubarak. Mohammed al Shehhi got onto the end of a cross from the substitute Subait Khater to put the Emirates ahead. Adnan equalised for the visitors, again heading home following a corner, and Abdulla al Dakeel tapped in the winner after Rabea failed to hold on to a dipping long ball fired from the right flank by Abdulla Ismail. The game was played under steamy conditions at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium where work is in progress at a frantic pace for the UAE's opening Group 2 match with North Koreaon Saturday. The venue is undergoing renovation and is expected to have 15,000 seats ready for that game, which is the first phase towards a 42,000 capacity in the country's most modern football stadium. The UAE will also face South Korea and Iran in Group 2 of the final stage of Asian qualifying for South Africa in 2010. The top two teams will qualify for the finals, with the third-placed nation going into a play-off. Bahrain are in Group 1 alongside Australia, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Bahrain's two-goal hero Syed Adnan said the UAE should not get too down about this result. "There are some teams with decent past records but they mean very little," he said. "The rest of the countries in this final round has caught up, and it will be a very interesting phase of the competition. "It is the teams that plays best on the day. "This was a very good game for us under difficult weather conditions. "Needless to say it was only a friendly but we can look forward to the real matches with optimism." North Korea meanwhile were held to a scoreless result by Uzbekistan in a friendly in Tashkent.
apassela@thenational.ae
