Heartbreak for UAE as Costa Rica deliver late fatal blow

Marcos Urena denied the UAE’s teenagers a place in the semi-finals of the U20 World Cup in the cruellest of fashions on Saturday night.

Urena scored in the second minute of injury time, in extra time, to give his side a 2-1 win and semi-final date against favourites Brazil in the Under-20 World Cup.

Both teams tired badly in the heat after a lively first half and late in extra time with the scores locked at 1-1 the UAE were reduced to 10 men when Mohammad Fawzi was sent off. Moments later Urena silenced the partisan home crowd when he profited from a defensive mix-up after captain Hamdan Al Kamali’s poor header back to the keeper to fire home the winner just when a penalty shootout had looked inevitable.

Ahmad Ali opened the scoring for the UAE in the 32nd minute when he latched on to a cross from Ahmad Khalil with a neat finish, but Jose Martinez bulged the net with a bullet header to equalise five minutes later.

The UAE had most of the initiative, despite missing influential midfielder Theyab Awana through suspension, and squandered several opportunities to win the match in extra time. Khalil twice found himself through on goal and could not find the finish, while captain Al Kamali tried his luck from long range on a couple of occasions.

UAE coach Mahdi Redha could not hide his disappointment at losing in the 122nd minute of a match that neither side had done enough to win.

"We're sad to go out this way, but that's life," Redha said. "We're very happy with how the players have done here.

"This is football - you have to accept it. Sometimes you don't play well and you win and other times you play really well and you lose."

Costa Rica coach Ronald Gonzalez said: "We had the list of penalty shooters ready, and I didn't even see the goal.

“But when I saw the bench explode in celebration, I realised what had happened.

"This was a really difficult result for us. The players were exhausted by the end of the match," Gonzalez said.

"First, I'd like to thank God, and then all my players who were magnificent."

UAE: Yousuf Abdulrahman, Saoud Saeed, Amer Abdulrahman, Hamdan Al Kamali, Ahmad Ali (Ali Mabkhoot, 67), Ahmad Khalil, Habib Fardan (Mohammad Marzooq, 79), Mohammad Fawzi, Mohammad Ahmad, Abdulaziz Hussain, Sultan Al Menhali (Maher Jassim, 99).

Costa Rica: Esteban Alvarado, Jose Mena, Roy Smith, Marcos Urena, David Guzman, Diego Estrada (Ricardo Blanco, 102), Diego Madrigal (Allen Guevara, 57), Cristian Gamboa, Bryan Oviedo, Carlos Hernandez (Daniel Varela, 62), Josue Martinez.

(With inputs from AP)