Al Ain: UAE Under-23 coach Hassan Al Abdouli reckons his side will win the war of attrition against Uzbekistan in their decisive last AFC Under-23 Championship group qualifier in Al Ain on Wednesday.
The top teams from 10 groups of four and five or six best runners-up (depending on where hosts China finish*) will qualify for the AFC Under-23 Championship in China from January 9-27.
Both the UAE and Uzbekistan are currently level in Group D on six points from two games and now face off to decide who tops the group.
But after Uzbekistan were made to sweat for a 2-0 win over Nepal on Monday after having opened with a 3-1 win over Lebanon on Saturday, UAE coach Al Abdouli — whose side beat Nepal 5-0 on Saturday and Lebanon 1-0 on Monday — believes the UAE are better off.
“Uzbekistan exerted themselves a lot in their second game and I noticed a lot of their players had also played in the first match so they are tired, they have not been given a break. There is also a difference in goals so they can’t just hold out for a draw they have to beat us,” said Al Abdouli, speaking after his side’s 1-0 win over Lebanon on Monday, courtesy of an 84th minute penalty from Ahmad Al Attas.
“We have a medical team that deals with issues of tiredness and the players are committed to recovery and sleep. We already know Uzbekistan, we’ve seen them many times and we know their style of play, so we will set a plan for them,” he added.
Uzbekistan coach Ravshan Khaydarov also seemed to admit his side was flagging, and dodged questions on the UAE after their 2-0 win over Nepal.
“This was a very difficult match for us and now my players need to relax on their rest day, while we analyse the match,” he said.
“We need to rest and improve mentally and physically and only after that can we think about the UAE. The first target is to recuperate the players because it’s not easy for them to play in this heat.”
Of the UAE’s 1-0 win over Lebanon, Al Abdouli, added: “We were expecting a difficult match for several reasons. The players exerted themselves in the last match and you have to take into consideration the weather. Lebanon also played very defensively, and my players were distracted by the result of the earlier game between Uzbekistan and Nepal, so they lost focus due to a lack of experience. These aren’t excuses, but we did our best given the circumstances.
“We had a lot of chances and came close but didn’t score due to bad luck. If this had been the first game we would have won it sooner.”
Both Lebanon and Nepal are out after two losses rendering their last game together on Wednesday academic. But Lebanon coach Milic Curcic still had something to say about who would top the group.
“I’d say the group is 50-50 between the UAE and Uzbekistan now,” he said. “Uzbekistan is very organised and physical whereas the UAE is very technical, they have players that can play between the lines and cause problems for any team. It’s 50-50 but maybe the UAE have slight advantage as hosts.”
* China qualify automatically as hosts of the AFC Under-23 Championship but have decided to take part in qualifiers anyway. If they top Group J being held in Cambodia, five best runners-up will qualify but if they finish among the best five runners-up a sixth best runner-up will qualify.
