Sport | Football

UAE grab World Cup berth after Iran sink

The UAE have qualified for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup after defeating Iran 3-1 in the semifinals .

  • By Sayed Ali, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 23:37 May 10, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News
  • Bakhit Sa'ad (right) of the UAE battles for possession against Hassan Abdullah (left) of Iran during the semifinals of Asian qualifiers for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup at Jumeirah Beach Park in Dubai on Saturday.

Dubai: The UAE have qualified for the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in France next July after defeating Iran 3-1 in the semifinals held at Jumeirah Beach late on Friday.

It will be the second successive year the UAE has featured in the finals following last November's appearance in Brazil after they clinched the Asian title .

Japan also qualified after crushing China 7-1 in the first semifinal held on Friday.

UAE and Japan were due to clash last night to decide the Asian champions.

Semifinalist losers Iran and China also met to decide third place and a further qualification berth for the World Cup.

Iran defended well in the first period to finish goalless, with goalkeeper Hamid Ghorbanpour in fine form to frustrate the UAE.

However, skipper Bakhit Sa'ad opened the scoring for UAE in the second period, following an error by the Iranian defenders.

Coach Marcelo removed Sa'ad from the action in the third period, and paid the price when the Iranians equalised through Fareed Boulokbashi.

However the skipper returned and helped turn the game with Rami Abdullah grabbing the second for the UAE with a powerful drive from long distance.

Rami then sealed the victory with another blast.

UAE keeper Mohammad Hussain was in fine form and played a significant role in the win.

"The match was one of our toughest so far. The Iranian team were strong, but we were determined to win and qualify for the World Cup finals," said UAE skipper Sa'ad.

In the second semifinals Japan demolished China 7-1 with Yamauchi scoring a hat-trick, Oda grabbing two and Makino and Yoshi each scoring one each. Meng Ren hit a consolation for China.

Results

Semifinals:

UAE 3 Iran 1

Japan 7 China 1

(UAE and Japan qualify for the World Cup finals in Marseille)

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