Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Two defensive lapses cost the UAE dearly in their bid to reach the FIFA Arab Cup for the first time, as Cosmin Olaroiu’s men went down 3-0 to Morocco at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
After a well-taken header by Karim El Berkaoui in the 28th minute, the UAE fought hard in search of a breakthrough, but two goals in the space of 10 minutes towards the end, snuffed out their hopes completely. The only African team in the semi-finals, Morocco will meet Jordan - who beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the other semi-final last night - in Thursday's final.
A floated lob from the left found El Berkaoui, who rose like a majestic phoenix in the right corner of the penalty box and headed the ball into the far side, with the UAE’s defence unable to counter the great show of cohesiveness that Morocco displayed throughout the match.
In the 83rd minute, a ball slipped through in a counter-attacking move from the right. The UAE defence was wrong-footed, as the ball was played diagonally to Achraf El Mahdioui, who had all the time in the world to pick his corner in the goal.
The UAE, left with no choice but to push forward in search of two goals, fell prey to another counterattacking move nine minutes later that saw Mohamed Boulascout cut the ball back from the goal-line and teed up for substitute Abderrazzaq Hamdallah.
The forward, who had also assisted in the second goal, made no mistake, immediately slotting it through a defender’s legs, a diving Yahia Nader and the outstretched legs of goalkeeper Hamad Al Meqbaali.
The latter, the penalty hero of the quarter-final against defending champions Algeria, had a night to forget.
It had started well for the UAE, who had put Morocco under
pressure from the start, but their dominance soon waned as the African side tightened their grip with El Berkaoui and Anas Bach testing Al Meqbaali with long-range efforts, while Oualid Azaro had his glancing header calmly collected.
The Moroccans played the waiting game and effected a double substitution around the 80th minute mark. While El Mahdioui came in for Amine Zouhzouh, Hamdallah replaced Azaro, and the impact was almost immediate.
The final stats tell the whole story. While the UAE had only a marginally higher 51% possession than the UAE, they had 12 shots at the goal, but only two on target.
Compared to their profligacy, their rivals had seven shots on target from 10 attempts and managed three goals in the back of the net as Olaroiu’s attacking strategy fell apart.
