Incheon: A draw against Jordan is sufficient for the UAE to advance to the knockout stages of the football competition at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games on Thursday.

The UAE swamped India 5-0 in their Group G opener on Monday and one more point from their next match against Jordan will be sufficient for Ali Ebrahim’s boys to advance to the Round of 16 on September 25.

Expectation from the UAE squad are high following their silver medal show at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games with Mahdi Ali at the helm. Ebrahim has done well to build a solid squad while brushing aside the weight of expectations to go one better in Incheon this time.

On Monday in their opener against India, the match was killed off within seven minutes with skipper Saeed Al Kathiri — one of three senior players in the under-23 squad — scoring a brace within two minutes. His first came in the 13th minute and the second two minutes later against a totally disjointed India. Bandar Al Hababi added a third in the 19th minute and the encounter was as good as done.

Al Kathiri got his hat-trick midway through the second half and a self goal seven minutes from the end handed the UAE a strong start to the competition.

Meanwhile, Al Jazira’s Sultan Bargash, one of the overage players in the side sounded a cautious note despite their strong start. “We need to take it step by step. I don’t feel the pressure of playing with the youngsters, but we are more responsible than the other players and the real challenge now is to live up to the expectations,” Bargash was quoted in the official UAE Football Association (UAE FA) website.

The current squad is expected to form the core of the team that will represent the country during Olympic qualifying. “The coach [Ebrahim] has believed in me and this championship is a very crucial step for the future of football,” he said.

The UAE versus Jordan match will kick-off at 12 noon on Thursday and the final standings in the group will be known after the final match between India and Jordan on September 22. The best two teams will advance to the Round of 16.