UAE delighted with thumping win

AFC Asian Cup – CANBERRA, Coach Mahdi Ali lauded the performance of his players after the United Arab Emirates defeated Qatar 4-1 in their AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 Group C opener on Sunday.

Despite going behind to Khalfan Ibrahim’s opener, the UAE bounced back with a four-goal salvo that saw strikers Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout net a brace apiece as the Emiratis ran out comfortable winners.

“I am very happy with this win, especially as we worked very hard for this game as it was the key game in the group for us,” said Ali, following the match at Canberra Stadium.

“I felt optimistic ahead of this game after seeing the players putting in all their effort in training and camp. I was sure the players would do their best and this is why I was confident.

“We are celebrating for this game but tomorrow we will forget about this and focus on the next game against Bahrain, who is a good team and I am sure they will perform very well.

“We have three games in this group and the first game is very important because it gives more motivation and confidence for the next game. Now we are in a good position in the group and this gives us confidence.”

Midfield playmaker Omar Abdulrahman was a key component to the UAE’s win and was particularly effective in the second period when moving into the centre of the field where he assisted Mabkhout’s second goal to cap an impressive display from the 23-year-old Al Ain star.

“I think Omar is one of the good players in the team,” said Ali. “He didn’t play for maybe one and a half months, not even friendlies because he was injured in the Gulf Cup semi-final in November.

“I was not expecting he would play 90 minutes today, but he worked very hard in the last three weeks and this is the output of his effort. He has a good future, I am very happy with his performance today.”

Despite a performance that satisfied their coach, the UAE still have room for improvement if they want to reach their previously stated goal of an AFC Asian Cup semi-final place.

“We always think about improvement because we define success as to be better than yesterday,” added Ali.

“There are some other areas we have to work on. In fact, I think there are many things we have to work harder on if we want to go far in this competition.”