Dubai: The UAE lost 2-0 to Trinidad and Tobago — a country ranked 14 places below them in the Fifa world rankings — in a friendly in Girona, Spain on Thursday night.

Nathan Lewis set up Ataulla Guerra for the opener eight minutes before the break and then slotted in from Joevin Jones’ cross 13 minutes after the restart.

It marked an understated start to the Whites’ camp in Spain where Alberto Zaccheroni’s side will also play Laos on Tuesday (September 11).

They are in Europe in a bid to prepare for their Asian Cup hosting in January, where they will play India, Bahrain and Thailand in Group A.

Guerra put Trinidad and Tobago in front on 37 minutes when Nathan Lewis squared a pass across the edge of the area, which was dummied through the legs of Shahdon Winchester.

Mohanad Salem swung at an interception despite being wrong-footed by the feint but he couldn’t prevent Guerra from barging into the box to plant the ball into the bottom left.

Up until that point Ahmad Khalil had blasted an Omar Abdul Rahman chipped free-kick over inside 10 minutes and Joevin Jones had struck straight at UAE keeper Khalid Eisa on the quarter.

A poor back pass by Triston Hodge allowed Ali Mabkhout to counter and cross to Omar Abdul Rahman before the half hour, but Omar’s tap back to Khamis Esmail just outside the box was curled right into the hands of keeper Marvin Phillip by Esmail.

The only effort after the goal saw Mabkhout shoot wide with four minutes of the first half remaining, seeing Trinidad and Tobago hold onto their 1-0 lead going into the interval.

Nathan Lewis added a second after the break, easily tapping in a cross into the box from Joevin Jones on 58 minutes.

Esmail Al Hammadi, coming on for Ahmad Khalil, added pace and physicality bursting into the box, but he ran straight into the keeper with his first try.

Mabkhout also had a freekick tipped wide by Phillip inside the last 20 minutes, while Al Hammadi first had a deflected shot easily collected and later struck wide from another chance in front of goal.

Mohammad Abdul Rahman struck wide inside stoppage time in the last of the UAE’s late attempts for a consolation but it wasn’t to be.

Despite only being a friendly there will be some element of disappointment among fans, who last saw their side beat Trinidad and Tobago 7-6 on penalties after drawing 3-3 in normal time in the OSN Cup friendly tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, back in 2013.