Manama: UAE coach Mahdi Ali said he was ready for any opponent heading into the Gulf Cup semi-finals after topping Group A with three straight wins.
The UAE secured their place in the last four of the event following a comfortable 2-0 victory over Oman at Khalifa Stadium on Friday.
Ali’s men, who opened their campaign with 3-1 and 2-1 wins over Qatar and Bahrain respectively last Saturday and Tuesday, will now play the runners-up of Group B in a semi-final at the National Stadium on Tuesday at 5.45pm.
With Iraq already through, having won their opening two games 2-0 against Saudi Arabia and 1-0 against Kuwait, and Yemen out of the competition with two consecutive 2-0 defeats against the latter, the UAE will now face whoever wins the game between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Neither opponent will be easy, though, as Kuwait are the current holders and have won the competition a record 10 times while Frank Rijkaard’s Saudi Arabia are three times Gulf Cup and Asian Cup champions and are traditionally a regional powerhouse, albeit they are somewhat in decline.
But a confident Ali said after the Oman win: “We have no preference as to who we face in the semi-finals. We have created a system whereby we play to win regardless of the opponent, and besides, all the teams in this competition are equal.”
Having played with eight changes in his starting line-up against Oman, from the side that beat Bahrain, Ali added: “All 23 of my players are ready for the next game and are prepared to face either Saudi or Kuwait.
“There are even players back in the UAE who we didn’t bring that are of the right standard to face these opponents. But, as you know, there is a limit to how many players we can bring.”
A growing confidence from the UAE camp has emerged following nine points from three straight victories, and the ease with which they overcame Oman on Friday has only served to underline their threat.
With progression to the last four assured, the UAE sat back for 80 minutes countering a hapless Oman, who could not convert their chances, only for super-sub striker Ahmad Khalil to nick a late brace inside four minutes towards the end.
First he tapped past Masin Al Kasbi from a buildup between himself, Waleed Akhbar and Amer Abdulrahman, then he rounded the goalkeeper and saw his long shot fly in despite Mohammad Al Musalami’s efforts to clear.
Ali said: “I want to congratulate my players on another excellent performance, particularly Ahmad Khalil, who has not scored in a long time. Now he’s back and I’m happy for that.
“Oman were forced to attack because of their situation and, as the game went on, they began to take more risks in order to get forward. We tried to take advantage of the space they left behind in defence and were able to create two goals on the counterattack using fresh players from the bench.”
