The UAE national football team adorn The National Sport front page on Wednesday, June 17 after edging past East Timor to open their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a victory.
Despite being heavily favoured for the encounter, the UAE struggled to break down a resilient East Timor, until Omar Abdulrahman’s fine effort 11 minutes from time.
As coach Mahdi Ali stated post-match, the most important thing was to acquire the three points.
The National's John McAuley was in Kuala Lumpur for the match and provided his analysis on the UAE's performance.
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