Al Ain: The UAE have likely failed to qualify for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Championships after their 2-0 defeat to Uzbekistan in Al Ain on Wednesday.
Under normal circumstances The Whites could have progressed to January 9-27’s event in China as one of the best runners-up from group stage qualification, as they technically finished with six points and a plus four-goal difference from earlier wins over Nepal 5-0 and Lebanon 1-0.
However, after Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from Group A, the AFC ruled that the results from the bottom side in Group D would become null and void.
This saw the UAE’s 5-0 win over Nepal deleted and left Hassan Al Abdouli’s side with just three points and a minus-one goal difference, which likely won’t be enough to qualify the UAE as one of the best runners-up.
The top teams from 10 groups of four and five or six best runners-up qualify for China. As hosts China qualify automatically but they are still taking part in qualifiers.
This means, if China top their group the best five runners-up will qualify, but if China finishes among the best five runners-up, a sixth best runner-up will also qualify.
Even though the UAE’s group has finished, other qualifying groups are still in action until Sunday July 23.
If confirmed, this will be the first time the UAE have failed to reach the AFC Under-23 Championships after twice reaching the quarter-finals in the only two other editions of the tournament back in 2014 and 2016.
UAE coach Hassan Al Abdouli said: “We read in the press on the day of the Uzbekistan game that we were top of the group followed by Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Nepal, heading into the final game. But then, the AFC said they would be deleting the results of the last team in our group, which leaves us second with three points and Uzbekistan top on six points, so we will wait to see what happens.”
In any case this became a technicality that could have been avoided if the UAE had only beaten Uzbekistan, and for that Al Abdouli said his side had no excuses.
“We didn’t play offensively enough and tried to change our style, but Uzbekistan did that better and we didn’t play as we had planned.
“Uzbekistan have been together for two years through 20 friendlies whereas we have only been together for 37 days. We were also exhausted from two earlier games and the AFC’s ruling also had a negative effect on my players.”
Uzbekistan coach Ravshan Khaydarov was delighted with his side’s qualification, which will be their third appearance after two group stage exits in 2014 and 2016.
The AFC were contacted for clarification on the ruling but have yet to comment. It is uncertain whether the UAE Football Association can or will appeal the decision.
