Dubai: The UAE bounced back from Tuesday’s 1-0 Asian Games opening defeat to Syria with a 4-1 win over East Timor in the Jalak Harupat Stadium in Soreang, Indonesia, on Thursday.
Shaheen Al Darmki opened early on the second minute, before Salem Al Sharji and Zayed Al Ameri made it 3-0 to the Junior Whites before half-time with goals on 10 and 19 minutes.
Al Ameri then completed his brace to make it 4-0 just after the hour before Rufino Walter Gama got a consolation for East Timor three minutes before the end.
The UAE will now need a result in their last game against group leaders China on Sunday from 4pm UAE time to secure progression to the knockout stages with an automatic top two finish.
China beat Syria 3-0 on Thursday after opening with a 6-0 win over East Timor on Tuesday. It will now be down to the UAE and Syria to contest for second. Syria play East Timor in their last group game on Sunday.
Whoever finishes third may still make the knockouts thanks to the best four third place finishers sneaking through to make up the numbers.
This is the UAE’s fifth appearance in the Asian Games football tournament. They recorded two group stage exits in 2002 and 2006 before taking silver in 2010 with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Japan in the final, and later made the quarter-finals in 2014.
The start of the UAE’s latest campaign was overshadowed by a mass brawl in a pre-tournament friendly against Malaysia last weekend that resulted in Al Ain midfielder Mohammad Khalfan Al Harasi being sent home.
The UAE FA apologised to their Malaysian counterparts and launched an internal disciplinary against the player.
