Uzbekistan played better

UAE U23 coach Hassan Al Abdouli said lack of cohesion among players marred a good opportunity for a direct entry into the AFC U23 Championship to be held in China next year.

In the final and deciding Group D encounter, the UAE lost 2-0 to Uzbekistan.

Al Abdouli said Uzbekistan had an advantage of training together for long time and playing more friendlies.

"As the Uzbek coach stated at the beginning of this tournament as well, his side had played 20 friendlies together and they have been together as the same side for two years, whereas we have just got together in the last 37 days," Al Abdouli said after the match in Al Ain.

He noted three matches in five days had taken a toll on the team.

"From the second match (against Nepal on Monday) we were exhausted but we don't have any excuses for what happened today."

The young side having been together for few weeks. They did put up a solid show in previous matches but at the end they ran out of gas.

"In the first half we didn't play offensively enough, so we tried to change our style in the second half. But Uzbekistan did better than us and we didn't play as we planned to. We made technical mistakes and our physical fitness levels were at a minimum because we were exhausted after having already played two games."

The UAE still have a slim chance of qualifying if they can finish among six best runners-up.

The slots will also depend on where hosts China finish in their group. If China top their group or finish among five best runners-ups, the sixth best runners-up will also qualify for the Championship.

Source: Khaleej Times