UAE eliminated from Asian Games soccer

The UAE lost their last hope of reaching the quarterfinals of the soccer event in the 14th Asian Games yesterday when they were defeated 3-1 by Thailand at the Masan Sports Complex's main stadium.

The UAE showed poor form in what was their most important match. The defence was left wide open to the Thailand attackers, who had them trembling most of the time. In addition the UAE front line was poor in finishing and the midfield could not create scoring chances for the UAE forwards.

Thailand topped Group B with nine points from three wins and qualified for the quarterfinals, while the UAE were eliminated having collected only four points from one win and a draw.

The 20 national players will return home to rejoin their clubs for the league tournament, which begins in two weeks time.

Thailand led 2-0 in the first 37 minutes through goals by Noyvach Manit (31st minute) and Senamuang Kiatisuk (37th minute), both due to defensive errors.

Firstly the UAE defender Mohammed Qassim failed to stop Manit, who was quicker than him, and secondly the defenders lost concentration for a while as Senamuang Kiatisuk headed the ball home following a corner.

The UAE pulled one back before half time when Faisal Ali benefitted from Abdullah Ali's floating cross in front of the Thailand goal-mouth.

The UAE's coach Roy Hodgson did not make any changes although his side was 2-1 down. He could have done well to bring in a striker to add more power for his striking force.

But nothing was changed until the 68th minute when he brought in striker Saeed Al Kass in place of Faisal Ali.

Hodgson should have taken out a defender or a midfielder especially as the Thai coach Peter Withe made changes in his midfield and front line to put more pressure on the UAE goal.

A minute from Saeed Al Kass's entry, Thailand scored the third goal through Noyvach Manit, when he went past three UAE defenders before placing the ball to the left of a hapless Walid Salim to end the UAE's dream of reaching the quarters.

The Thai counter-attacks were very dangerous against the UAE's open defence. However, they were unlucky not to add more goals.

The UAE attacked in the last minutes but it was too late. Abdullah Ali's powerful free kick bounced off the cross bar in the last minute.

Later, Roy Hodgson said that he was frustrated. "We made a lot of mistakes. The Thais scored two goals due to our mistakes and in the second half we played with special tactics to level the scores because it was 2-1, but the third goal, which also came due to a defensive error, killed our last hope of making a match of it."

On the other hand Peter Withe, the Thai coach said he knew that the UAE will attack from the start because they needed a win.

"I told my players not to defend but to attack and benefit from the spaces created while the UAE are attacking us. We succeeded in doing that by scoring two goals which made things more difficult for the UAE.

"The former Aston Villa and Notingham Forest striker said the third goal was like a knock-out in boxing. "It killed their hopes and made us play comfortably the remainder of the match."