Last-minute goal seals UAE fate

Cairo Football does not award points to good performances, it only recognises goals.

It was sad to see the UAE playing their best in the quarterfinal of the Fifa Under 20 World Cup against Costa Rica and exit from the competition only 60 seconds before the end of the extra time.

Costa Rica, the champions of CONCACAF, did not show the same standards of competition they had showed against hosts Egypt in the round of 16.

They were content with some rare counter attack attempts while trying to waste time from the first minute of the second half till the end of extra time in which they scored the winner following a mistake and the subsequent expulsion of Mohammad Fawzi.

The UAE midfielder had left his post open allowing the opponents to reach the UAE penalty area. But before the fatal defensive mistake, the UAE strikers were guilty of squandering many sitters which could have helped secure a good result for the team.

The UAE had 62 per cent possession at the end of the first half and 55 per cent at the end of extra time indicating their control in the game.

The UAE missed the services of their regular players Theyab Awana in the midfield and Mohammad Fayez on the left defence.

Mahdi also opted to select Soud Saeed to replace Fayez while moving Mohammad Ahmad to play in central defence with Al Kamali replacing Sa'ad Sorour who started all the other matches of the team in this tournament.

It was evident from the first minutes of the match that the Costa Ricans were building their attack on the right side of the UAE defence where Habib Al Fardan was slow to return and assist in defence. This helped Costa Rica to level the score in the first half.

In the second half, Mahdi replaced Al Fardan with defender Mohammad Marzouq which made many criticise his move as he should have brought in Maher Jasim, the striker, to add strength to the front line instead of adding a defender.

But there were many chances and Mahdi was more worried about the defence because of the zippy Costa Ricans. Fawzi's sending off spoilt all of Mahdi's plans making his team lose the chance to reach the semi finals for the first time.

"Though we lost a chance to reach the semi finals of the Youth World Cup we gained a team for the future," Mutrif Al Shamsi, the team's manager, told Gulf News after the match.

"We were victim of bad luck and bad refereeing in some cases. We will continue preparing this generation of players for the future," he added.

Hazza lauds performance

Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Honorary President of the UAE FA, conveyed his regards to the players of the UAE national team after they lost to Costa Rica on Saturday and asked them not to be disappointed.

Shaikh Hazza in a telephone call to Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, the Chairman of the UAE FA, told the players that the UAE is proud of their performances and results in the finals of the Fifa Under 20 World Cup in which they reached the quarterfinal and praised their fighting spirit and excellent performance against Costa Rica.