2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers: UAE labour to Malaysia win in Asian zone Group A

Abu Dhabi: The road to only their second Fifa World Cup after Italia ‘90 was never going to be untrammelled for the UAE, who laboured to a 2-1 away win over Malaysia on a bobbly and rain-sodden pitch on Tuesday.

Mahdi Ali’s men had been expected to secure another thumping win over the Malaysians, whom they beat 10-0 in September for their second-highest victory, but struggled for their usual passing fluency and cutting edge on a King Shah Alam pitch that cut up badly.

Instead, they had to settle for a narrow victory over plucky but limited opponents in Kuala Lumpur, through Omar Abdul Rahman’s exquisite first-half opener and Ahmad Khalil’s 10th goal of the qualifying campaign eight minutes after the break.

But six minutes later, the Malaysians stunned the Whites with a goal of their own, Baddrol Bakhtiar bulleting a magnificent header past Khalid Eisa from Safiq Rahim’s free-kick. It was only Harimau Malaya’s third goal in seven group games, as opposed to 28 conceded.

The need for another sizeable victory for the UAE had been intensified by Asian zone Group A leaders Saudi Arabia’s 10-0 thrashing of East Timor away earlier in the day.

This maintained the Saudis’ three-point advantage over the second-place UAE and put them three goals ahead of their rivals on goal difference, which could prove crucial in deciding who finishes top and progresses to the final qualifying round.

Ali made three changes to their team from the 11 that routed East Timor 8-0 on Thursday: playmaker Omar returned from suspension to replace Esmail Al Hammadi, with the former’s brother Mohammad dropped to the substitutes’ bench to accommodate Al Ahli’s Habib Fardan, while his Red Knights teammate, defender Abdul Aziz Hussain, came in for Mohammad Fawzi.

For the hosts, striker Safee Sali returned from suspension to play as the lone frontman.

But they were without four players due to injury and personal reasons, including goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, whose wife is due to give birth.

The Malaysians were further hampered by the fact that the game was played behind closed doors due to crowd trouble forcing the abandonment of their qualifier against Saudi Arabia in September.

They were on the backfoot from the start and went a goal down after 22 minutes when Al Ain playmaker Omar latched on to a loose clearance from Malaysia midfielder Syahrul Azwari and curled an unstoppable left-foot shot into the top corner from the right-hand side of the area.

The goal injected greater urgency into the Whites’ play, with striker Ali Mabkhout stinging the palms of Izham Roslan in the Malaysia goal, who then had to be alert to thwart the onrushing Khalil played through by Mabkhout’s deft flick.

In a game of few chances, the lethal Ah Ahli frontman Khalil doubled the UAE’s advantage shortly after the break for his fifth goal in two games, having scored four against East Timor. He sprinted clear of a statuesque defence and beat Roslan to Omar’s lofted through ball to tap in with ease.

At this juncture, one would have expected the Whites to put the Malaysians to the sword, but the home side were far more zestful and resilient than they were two-and-a-half months ago and were rewarded with Bakhtiar’s fine effort.

Al Hammadi replaced Khalil shortly afterwards, perhaps with Al Ahli’s second leg of the Asian Champions League final against Guangzhou Evergrande to come on Saturday, but he and his teammates could not find their usual attacking brio and had to settle for an unconvincing win.

The UAE complete their campaign at home to Palestine on March 24 and the Saudis five days later, although they may live to regret their failure to match the group leaders’ ruthlessness away from home even if they win both games.