Al Ain: The UAE face an anxious wait to see if they still qualify for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Championships as one of five or six best runners-up after losing 2-0 to Uzbekistan in their Group D decider in Al Ain on Wednesday.
Islomjon Kobilov headed The White Wolves ahead from Jasurbek Yakhshiboev’s corner on 67 minutes before Javokir Sidikov smashed a second into the top corner just before the final whistle.
Both sides were level on six points from two games coming into this third and final group fixture, but the UAE had an edge in better goal difference and knew they only needed a draw to progress.
The UAE had earlier beaten Nepal 5-0 on Saturday and Lebanon 1-0 on Monday, while Uzbekistan had beaten Lebanon 3-1 on Saturday and Nepal 2-0 on Monday.
The situation was complicated late on Wednesday, however, when the AFC announced that due to Sri Lanka’s withdrawal in another group of qualification, the results from the side that finished bottom in Group D — Nepal — would be deleted.
UAE coach Hassan Al Abdouli said: “We had a strong feeling and belief that we could win because we knew a draw wouldn’t serve us and our targets. In the first half we didn’t play offensively enough, so we tried to change our style in the second half, indeed Uzbekistan did that better and we didn’t play as we planned to.
“Based on the recent decision of the AFC to delete the results from the team that finishes last in Group D, it did have a negative impact on my players. But until yesterday we were top, so technically speaking we didn’t have any excuses going into this game.
“We made technical mistakes and our physical fitness levels were at a minimum because we were exhausted after having already played two games, that was clear from the beginning.
“As the Uzbek coach stated at the beginning of this tournament as well, his side have played 20 friendlies together and they have been together as the same side for two years, whereas we have just got together in the last 37 days. From the second match we were exhausted but we don’t have any excuses for what happened today. Based on who qualifies as a best runner-up now we will have to wait to see the result between Nepal and Lebanon in the last group match.”
The top teams from 10 groups of four and five or six best runners-up progress to January 9-27’s AFC Under-23 Championships in China. The number of best runners-up is yet to be confirmed because it depends on where hosts China finish in their group.
As hosts China automatically qualified for the tournament but have decided to play the qualifiers anyway. If they top their group, the best five runners-up will qualify, but if China finish among the best five runners-up, entry will expand to a sixth best runner-up.
