Sport | Football
UAE avenge loss to Vietnam
The UAE avenged their Asian Cup loss to Vietnam by edging out the hosts 1-0 in the first leg of the Asian World Cup qualifiers at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Staff Reporter
- Published: 21:39 October 8, 2007
- Vietnam's Le Cong Vinh (L) and UAE's Saleh Areefi fight for the ball during the match.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Abu Dhabi: The UAE avenged their Asian Cup loss to Vietnam by edging out the hosts 1-0 in the first leg of the Asian World Cup qualifiers at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on Monday.
Basheer Saeed scored the winner in the 33rd minute of the second half to put the UAE firmly on the road to South Africa.
The victory also enabled the visitors to bury the ghosts of the stadium, where they suffered a humiliating loss to Vietnam three months ago and bowed out of the Asian Cup in the group stage.
The UAE's head coach Bruno Metsu adopted a 4:3:3 strategy in order to take control of the midfield and not to give any space to the Vietnamese, which they used in building their attacks and counter-attacks during their victory in their last meeting.
Both teams were defensive in the first half, reluctant to open the field. Play was limited to midfield for most of the game with the UAE commanding the action.
Saif Mohammad, Mohammad Al Shehhi and Esmail Mattar led the UAE's attack. However, scoring attempts were far and few between them. Mattar's stunning free-kick was brilliantly saved by Duong Hong Son, the home goalkeeper, for a corner in the 33rd minute, while Vietnam did not threaten the visitors' goal in the first half.
Attacking trend
Play took a more attacking trend in the second half with the home team making the first move, but a solid defence and some alert saves by custodian Majid Nasir helped the UAE keep their rivals at bay.
Metsu replaced Saif Mohammad and Amer Mubarak with Ahmad Dada and Abdullah Al Noobi. The move gave more firepower to the tiring UAE attack and the Vietnam goal came under tremendous pressure. The home defence made a number of clearances, but the UAE managed to sneak in a goal off a corner.
The home defenders cleared a Mattar's corner kick to Nawaf, who sent the ball behind the defenders to an advancing Basheer, whose left-footer found the bottom of the net.
The match was attended by a single UAE supporter, Mohammad Rashid Al Omda, the chairman of the Al Ain Club's supporters society, who kept his voice above the 33,000 home team fans.
The UAE will return home today and the second leg will be held at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium on October 28.
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