UAE football get past Vietnam and advance to quarter-finals at Asian Games

Despite playing a man down for final 27 minutes, the Emiratis pull out a 3-1 win over Vietnam as Al Kathiri, Al Meqbaali and Al Ahbaba score at the Asian Games, reports Amith Passela.

UAE players celebrate their second goal against Vietnam during their men's round of 16 football match of the 2014 Asian Games, at Hwaesong Sports Complex outside of Incheon, South Korea on September 26, 2014. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones

Vietnam 1 UAE 3

UAE Al Kathiri 21', Al Meqbaali 61', Al Ahbabi 90+3'

Vietnam Nguyen 87'

Man of the match Saeed Al Kathiri (UAE)

Red card Mohammed Surour (UAE) 63'

Ali Ibrahim, the UAE coach, has urged his players to keep their cool after one was sent off for the second time in two games.

A 3-1 victory over Vietnam on Friday lifted the Emirati Under-23 side into the quarter-finals of the Asian Games tournament against North Korea, who beat Indonesia 4-1, but the result was marred by a red card to Mohammed Surour and an injury to their captain, Saeed Al Kathiri.

Surour was sent off by the Kyrgyzstan referee Timur Faizullin for butting a Vietnamese player and Al Kathiri was carried off with a leg injury.

“We will have to wait for the medical report on Saeed’s injury, but I believe it is not serious and he will be available for the next game,” Ibrahim said. “However, we are really disappointed in Surour’s conduct on the pitch.”

Waleed Al Mazrouei was sent off for a second booking in a group-stage loss to Jordan.

“These boys must start realising the damage they cause for the team with such conduct. We will have to address this issue and eliminate it altogether,” Ibrahim said.

“Otherwise, we played according to plan. We knew the Vietnamese players were fast in attack, so we bided our time and scored from the two opportunities we created.”

Surour was apologetic. “I am very sad that I let down my team,” he said. “I learnt a good lesson and will try to avoid such conduct in the future. I will have to sit out of the quarter-finals but I am confident my teammates can win the next game.”

Al Kathiri gave the UAE a first-half lead and Saeed Al Meqbaali doubled it after the hour.

Vietnam pulled one back through Nguyen Ho Nong when the UAE were down to 10 players, but Bandar Al Ahbabi fired the third for the UAE in added time to book a place in the final eight.

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