UAE Under-23 coach Al Abdouli urges fans

UAE Olympic team coach Hassan Al Abdouli has urged the fans to be their 12th man when they tackle a strong Lebanon in their second match of the AFC Under-23 Championship China 2018 Qualifiers on Monday night.

The UAE Under-23 team take on Lebanon in Group D at the Tahnoun bin Mohamed Stadium in Al Ain, with the kick-off scheduled for 9.15 p.m.

They had begun the competition in rollicking fashion by walloping Nepal 5-0 on Saturday night but Al Abdouli cautioned his lads not to get too ahead of themselves.

"We thank God for this great and significant victory. The players were well prepared. We shouldn't exaggerate with this result because it wasn't against one of the strongest sides, but we made a plan for victory and achieved it," Al Abdouli told the official AFC website.

"We played at home but the Nepal fans were more than the UAE fans, we tried to make this to our advantage and as you saw despite Nepal fans occupying half the stands, we exerted more pressure and controlled the match. We are hoping for the fans to give us the feeling they are standing next to us in the next match against Lebanon," he added.

Ahmed Al Hashmi fired a brace, including a penalty, while Mohammed Al Akberi, Khalid Bawazir and Mohamed Al Hammadi scored one each for the UAE. The UAE top the table with Uzbekistan placed second after defeating Lebanon 3-1.

Meanwhile, Lebanon would be looking to bounce back from the loss against Uzbekistan.

"We have had a very short time together to prepare, but we're trying. I'm surprised by the first half, maybe my players were afraid, I don't know what happened but the first half was very bad and the in the second half we corrected it. I don't know what happened but we will make analysis and try to do our best in the next two games," said Lebanon coach Milic Curcic.

And Curcic is well aware of the challenge his side faces against the UAE.

"Congratulations to Uzbekistan, they are a very good team and we knew about their and the UAE's level coming here. We now have short time to prepare for the next game and we see that UAE are almost at the same level as Uzbekistan. Our next match is sure to be a good game and we will see, we will prepare and try to do our best and in football you never know," he added.

Prior to the match between the UAE and Lebanon, Nepal meet Uzbekistan at 6.25 p.m.

A total of 40 teams will be hoping to be among the 16 to book their ticket for the tournament to be held in China from January 9 to 27, 2018.

The 10 group winners and the five best runners-up will qualify for the tournament. China, despite qualifying automatically as hosts, have opted to compete in the qualifiers. And in the event of China topping their group or if they finish among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runners-up will also make the cut.

Source: Khaleej Times