Dubai: The UAE lost 1-0 to Syria in the third place play-off of the King’s Cup in the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Sunday to finish fourth in the four-team friendly tournament.
Mahmoud Al Mawas got the game’s only goal after tapping into an empty net from Hamid Mido’s cross just five minutes after the interval. It followed the UAE’s opening 3-1 semi-final defeat to Jordan on Friday.
Salem Al Rejaibi should have put the UAE ahead with the simplest of tap-ins on 15 minutes after being picked out on the edge of the six yard box by Fawaz Al Messabi.
Sultan Al Shamsi had cut the ball back to Al Messabi who beat four defenders on his run into the area, only to watch in horror as Al Rejaibi failed to get a touch on his resulting pass across the goalmouth.
Al Mawas lunged in vain at a long cross into the box from the flank in Syria’s best first half chance on the half hour. And soon after Al Rejaibi rounded two defenders, only to strike straight at Syria’s keeper Ebrahim Al Meh.
Syria came out stronger in the second half with Al Mawas shooting straight at UAE keeper Ahmad Al Beloushi after getting a foot onto the end of a cross before the pair collided.
Moments later, Syria found the breakthrough they were looking for after Osama Omari threaded Mido into the box, drawing Al Beloushi off his line, and finding Al Mawas in the centre with his through ball – ready to fend off his marker and tap into an open net.
UAE coach Mahdi Ali won’t be overly concerned with his side’s results in the King’s Cup as he was only using the friendly tournament to assess back-up options ahead of the third round of 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which start in September.
The UAE finished second behind Saudi Arabia in the second round of qualification, which wrapped up in March, progressing by virtue of being one of the four best runners-up.
They were then drawn into a six-team third round qualifying pool with Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand. The top two teams will qualify directly to the 2018 World Cup, while the third placed team will progress to a cross continental play-off.
The UAE will be looking to qualify to the World Cup for only the second time in their history after debuting in 1990, when they failed to get out of the group.
