Al Ain // The Olympic team's dreams of playing in next year's London Games are fading after Sunday night's defeat to Iraq as, yet again, they failed to score a goal.
Mahdi Ali, the head coach, was adamant this defeat in Al Ain was not the end, although his team are bottom of Group B having drawn twice, and lost this one, without breaching the opponents' defence in three matches.
"Our chance [of qualification] is now a lot more difficult, but we still have nine points to go for from our final three games, and we all will fight until the very end to get the three wins we need," he said.
"I believe we can get through with 10 points. Again, I thought we played well, at times, and didn't have much luck.
"It was always going to be difficult to come back after losing an early goal, and that is why I went with a 3-2-3-2 system, but again we could not score."
Iraq were far from brilliant but with the UAE's scoring drought showing no sign of abating just one goal seems to be enough to beat them at the moment. The visitors' second goal late in the match merely rubbed salt into the wounds.
"It is three games with no goals, and that is a shame for us," said Ali, who tried to put a brave face on a disappointing night. But, in a recent friendly against Belarus, we scored four goals, which proves to me that the attackers are not that weak.
"We have four months before we play our next game, in Iraq, and I want to bring in fresh faces before then, and we will also instil a new training programme in an attempt to solve our problems." Ali said before the match that all his side needed was a bit of luck.
Instead, it was the same old story.
The home side started brightly with Ahmed Khalil's effort from distance providing an early test for Jalal Hassan Hachim, the Iraq goalkeeper.
Then on 20 minutes a goal at last came in the UAE's Olympic campaign after scoreless draws against Australia and Uzbekistan. Sadly, it was at the wrong end as far as the hosts were concerned.
Iraq's Amjed Al-Muntafik showed great pace to get down his wing and into the penalty box, and though his cross was missed by his teammate Mohanad Karrar, and the ball fell to Amjed Radhi, the captain, whose close-range effort was brilliant saved by Khaled Eisa, but Karrar did not pass up his second opportunity and dispatched the loose ball.
Iraq drew 0-0 with Group B favourites Australia on Wednesday, and this should have been a warning to the UAE that this was always going to be a difficult game.
But when Ali Mabkhout, who missed two great opportunities against Uzbekistan on Wednesday, could not score with a header when he was just a few yards from goal as the first half drew to a close, the supporters inside Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium sensed it would not be their night.
The UAE players combined to produce eight meaningful shots on goal, including a speculative effort from Mohamed Gharib, who shot from a good 15 yards inside his own half, in the second half.
But their efforts were either off target, blocked or saved.
And it was all over with 15 minutes remaining when Radhi's low cross was turned home by Nabeel Sabah Zghair.
Radhi Swadi, Iraq's head coach, was delighted with his team, who now have four points from three games.
"It was tough, and I am happy with all my players," he said. "We deserved to win the game and it was great to get two goals away from home. The UAE are a good team, and I would say that anyone who wants to get through this group needs to win matches, and we have done that tonight. We didn't allow the UAE to attack and we did well to close down Khalil, who can be dangerous."
