UAE beat Iraq to reach second round of Asian U16

Abu Dhabi : The UAE defeated Iraq 2-1 on Friday in Uzbekistan to reach the second round of the ongoing Asian Under 16 Football Championship as runners up in Group D with 5 points, one behind Iraq.

Iraq, which secured their berth in the second round after beating both China and Kuwait, took the lead in the 25th minute when Ali Hussain following a fast counter attack after UAE's striker Yousuf Saeed missed a sitter.

The UAE players panicked after the goal and their attempts to level the score were marred by wrong passing and haste.

The turning point of the match came in the 53rd minute when UAE custodian Nasir Abdullah saved brilliantly a fierce Iraqi shot that could have added the second goal for them.

Khalid Anbar levelled the score from the rebounding attacking move from a tremendous long range shot to boost the morale of his colleagues who advanced to add the winner to reach the second round.

Substitutes play key role

UAE coach Badr Saleh made two substitutes by bringing in Saeed Al Rawahi and Abdullah Mousa to replace Hassan Gholom and Salah Al Hammadi, and his team dominated the match creating many scoring chances and resulted in the winner which was scored by Yousuf Saeed in the 72nd minute with a beautiful lob over the advancing Iraqi custodian.

The UAE will face Australia in the second round with the winner booking a seat in the finals of the 2011 Fifa Under 17 World Cup in Mexico.

The UAE have defeated Australia in the same round in 2008 and also in Uzbekistan to reach the finals of the 2009 Fifa Under 17 World Cup in Nigeria.