UAE determined to seal 3rd place in AFC Asian Cup
Newcastle (IraqiNews.com) Striker Ahmed Khalil insists the United Arab Emirates have “nothing to lose” in Friday’s AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 third place play-off with Iraq at Newcastle Stadium.
Al Ahli’s Khalil scored twice while strike partner Ali Mabkhout found the net on four occasions to propel the UAE to a first semi-final appearance since reaching the 1996 final only for hosts Australia to prevail 2-0 in Newcastle on Tuesday.
The UAE, though, still have a chance to record their second-best finish in the AFC Asian Cup on Friday having claimed fourth in 1992.
“We have played well in this competition. Our goal was to reach the semi-final, but after we lost against Australia, now there is nothing to lose and we must play well to win and claim third place,” said 23-year-old Khalil, who netted his two goals in the 4-1 win over Gulf Cup champions Qatar at the start of the group stage.
“When we play well, sometimes there is still no luck, and in the last match there was no luck, but I hope we can win against Iraq.”
The UAE were able to build on that opening win over Qatar by edging out Bahrain 2-1 with Mabkhout on the score sheet, and with qualification from Group C already secured with a game to spare, Mahdi Ali’s side conceded in stoppage time en route to a 1-0 defeat by table-topping Iran.
The UAE were able to recover from that defeat and eventually edged out defending champions Japan on penalties after extra-time after Mabkhout’s early strike had opened the scoring.
But hosts Australia proved one step too far as the UAE were unable to recover from conceding twice inside the first 15 minutes at Newcastle Stadium on Tuesday, while Iraq lost to Korea Republic by the same score line a day earlier.
“We have learned about this competition,” added Khalil, who failed to score in three appearances at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup as the UAE exited in the group stage.
“This is only my second Asian Cup and now we have more experience in the Asian Cup and we hope to reach a good level against Iraq to win the match.” /End/