Bahrain blank UAE to stay in hunt

The UAE national team continued their poor form in the Gulf Cup when Bahrain beat them 3-1 at Kuwait stadium yesterday.

This is the UAE's third consecutive defeat.

Bahrain's win have made Saudi Arabia looking over their shoulders as the winners reduced the gap to one point with one match left for each team.

Saudi Arabia have 11 points and meet today Yemen in their last match.

The Saudis have to clinch three points today to win the title for the third time. Bahrain, who revived hopes of winning the title for the first time after they beat UAE, will be backing Yemen today in order to cause the tournament's biggest upset and beat Saudi Arabia.

If Yemen win or draw, they will pave the way for Bahrain to clinch the title in one condition that Bahrain beat Kuwait on Saturday.

The UAE stayed in the sixth place with four points from five matches. They will be looking to better their position if they can beat Yemen on Sunday.

The defence was the reason behind the UAE's defeat yesterday. All three Bahrain goals owed to defensive errors.

The UAE defence was not steady after the injury of strong defender Fahd Ali in the first match against Saudi Arabia. Fahd returned to the UAE for treatment and their defence suffered in his absence.

The UAE coach Roy Hodgson has played eight defenders in five matches so far. There was no stability in the defence and it was the weakest line in the team. The UAE conceded seven goals in five matches which is the second weak defence after Yemen.

Faisal Khalil opened the score for the UAE in the 6th minute following a high cross by Rami Yaslam. Faisal header beat Bahrain custodian Ali Saeed to his left.

Before the first goal, Ali Saeed saved Ismail Mattar's blast with his feet and again Mattar lost a scoring chance in the ninth minute when his right–footer went just near the upright.

Bahrain recovered and Salmin's cross passed in front of Hussain Mekki who failed to divert it in.

Ala Ahmed was put through, but Walid saved his powerful shot in the 21st minute. Saleh Farhan levelled the score in the 28th minute with a cracker from 25 metres that Walid could do nothing to stop it.

After one minute, Bahrain hit the second goal through Talal Yousuf whose weak shot hit the post and Walid's body and went in.

Five minutes before the break, Bahrain keeper tipped Faisal's header to the corner.

Bahrain defended well in the second half and UAE attacks were rare and didn't threaten the Bahraini keeper. Talal Yousuf hit the third goal benefiting from UAE defenders Juma Khater who passed along ball to Mussa in the 59 minute, Talal was quicker than Mussa, he hit a low ball into an empty net.

The UAE strikers were marked closely by Bahrain defenders. Faisal Khalil, Ismail Mattar and Mohammed Omer succumbed to the Bahrain defence and all attempts were blocked and cleared away by Mohammed Jumaa, Abdullah Marzouq and Hussain Baba.

Ahmed Hassan could have added the fourth has not his shot went inches near the post after he went past three UAE defenders.

Today's matches:
At 5:10 pm Kuwait v Qatar.
At 7:30 pm Saudi Arabia v Yemen.