Abu Dhabi: Sitting comfortable with a 1-0 first leg win over DPR Korea, hosts UAE will be looking to confirm their entry into the league phase of the Asian Qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics when the two teams meet in the return leg in Al Ain tonight.
The UAE team, which scored a 56th minute against the Koreans in Pyongyang last week, will be going in as the favourites to clinch a berth in the group stage.
Emirati Mahdi Ali, coach of the UAE team said his side will adopt the same approach and will be looking for a win.
"The team is in good spirits, we have no injury problems and we are confident of putting up a good show," the highly-successful Emirati coach said.
Ali's side boasts of some of the finest players which include Ahmad Khalil, Hamdan Al Kamali, goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani, Theyab Awana and Omar Abdul-Rahman.
Korean coach Jo In-Chol skipped the pre-match press conference and the team's media officer said the heat will be a disadvantage for the visiting side. "Though the players will find the climate a little too tough the players are all focused and keen to reverse the result. They are desperate to qualify and they will fight hard," he said.
The winner of this two-legged first round encounter will advance to a four-nation group, one of the three for the second round. The winner of the three groups will advance to the London Olympics while the three runners-up will play each other in a play-off. The winner of that play-off will play the fourth-ranked team from Africa in another play-off for a spot at the Olympic Games.
Wednesday's match: UAE vs DPR Korea, Al Qattara Stadium, Al Ain, 7.45 pm.
Iran v Iraq
Vietnam v Saudi Arabia
Kuwait v Japan
Jordan v South Korea
Oman v China
India v Qatar
Yemen v Australia
Hong Kong v Uzbekistan
Malaysia v Lebanon
Turkmenistan v Syria
Palestine v Bahrain
UAE v North Korea
