UAE book a place in World Cup

Dubai: The Copacabana beach awaits the UAE team after they officially claimed a spot in the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup being held there in November.

The UAE were certainly in carnival mood after a comprehensive 5-2 victory over Asia's defending champions Bahrain in the qualifying event at Al Mamzar beach on Friday night.

Only the top three teams in this tournament, which has been running since Tuesday, qualify for the World Cup, so going into the crucial semifinal clash, the UAE knew just one more victory would secure them their first ever appearance in the global competition.

Despite a shaky start, they managed to take a 3-0 lead by the middle of the second period, when an own goal from the opposition added to their haul.

It was not until the final minute of the second period that Bahrain featured on their side of the scoreboard but two more third-period goals from the home side ensured the UAE victory was never in doubt.

Intense camp

"I'm immensely proud of my players," said an ecstatic UAE coach Marcelo Mendes afterwards.

"It's not as if I came here and taught them all; it's their achievement. We've been through an intense training camp for 20 days and they simply gave it all.

"Today, it was not a great performance but I agree with the idea that every great team needs its share of luck as well. We had a dismal first period and still managed to open the scoring.

"In the second, the players were nervous and we had the fortune of an own goal. Things were just heading towards our side, and I guess we deserved it," he added.

Bahrain's coach Gustavo Zloccowick Silva emphasised the importance of his side's third-place showdown with Iran (due to be played late last night) which would determine whether or not the defending champions would once again compete at the World Cup - a competition in which they reached the quarterfinals last year.

"Now it's up to us to keep our heads up and play for our lives tomorrow against Iran. It's either tomorrow or in 2008," he said.

With a World Cup spot already in the bag, the final, which was played late last night between the UAE and Japan (who defeated Iran 8-6 in the other semifinal) was merely to determine who would top the tournament.