Preview

The group table was so tight with all teams having completed three from their five fixtures. The South Koreans had put themselves in a favourable position through collecting five points, but there was still a chance they could be overtaken by two teams. Qatar were propping up the table at this point, but wins in both their remaining matches could well see them head to Italy for next year’s World Cup. Coming up against an undefeated United Arab Emirates was no easy task, though, and the latter would indeed look to cement their position in the top two. A win would do them nicely.

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	2	0	5
2	United Arab Emirates	3	1	2	0	2	1	4
3	North Korea	3	1	1	1	2	1	3
4	China	3	1	0	2	3	4	2
5	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	2	3	2
6	Qatar	3	0	2	1	1	3	2

Qatar, who had dismissed of the previous World Cup’s participants Iraq in the first phase, had twice in telling matches defeated United Arab Emirates during 1988. They had met both in the Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia in March, and then later at the 1988 Asian Cup of Nations in the final month of the year. Qatar had won 2-1 on both occasions, and if they could keep this trend going, they would still be in with a shout for Italia ’90 participation. 

While United Arab Emirates had scored two late goals to defeat one of the pre-tournament favourites, China, 2-1 in their second outing, they’d been kept to goalless draws both against North Korea and Saudi Arabia. They had been the inferior side for large portions of the game against the Saudis, and did seem to struggle for firepower. Still, their legendary Brazilian head coach Mário Zagallo has named an unchanged starting eleven.

Qatar complete the trio of Arabic contestants in this final World Cup qualification group stage equipped with a Brazilian coach. 57 year old Dino Sani, another former international and a member of the 1958 World Cup winning squad, had been in charge of Qatar since the start of the final group stage, succeeding fellow Brazilian Cabralzinho. They had begun with two very creditable draws, 0-0 against favourites South Korea and then 1-1 against Arab rivals Saudi Arabia, but subsequently plunged to a 2-0 loss against North Korea. This was indeed last chance saloon for them. Sani had made two changes since their last outing, with Al-Muhannadi and Hassan being replaced by Desmal and Al-Kuwari. 

37 year old Yugoslav Zoran Petrović had been placed in charge of this fixture. He was among a number of officials from Europe and the Americas to oversee the AFC section’s final group stage in order to promote neutrality. It was his second match of the series, as he’d previously overseen Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s 1-1 draw. 

United Arab Emirates (4-4-2)

Player	Notes	Age	Club
17 Muhsin Musabah Faraj		25
2 Khalil Ghanim Mubarak		24
3 Ali Thani Juma’a	sub 37′	21
4 Mubarak Ghanim Mubarak (c)		26
6 Abdulrahman Mohamed Abdullaham		26
10 Adnan Al-Talyani		24
13 Hassan Mohamed Al-Shaibani		27
14 Nasir Khamees Mubarak	37′	24
15 Ibrahim Meer		22
16 Abdul Razaq Ibrahim		22
20 Mohamed Obaid Al-Zahiri		22

Substitutes
22 Abdulqadir Hassan		27
7 Fahad Khamees	on 37′	27

Manager: Mário Zagallo

Qatar (4-5-1)

Player	Notes	Age	Club
1 Younes Ahmed		26
2 Mohammed Al-Suwaidi		27
3 Mansour Al-Sulaiti
4 Yousuf Al-Adsani		24
6 Juma Salem Johar		19
10 Mubarak Salem Al-Khater		23
11 Saleh Eid Al-Mehaizaa		24
12 Mahmoud Soufi		18
14 Al-Kuwari Mubarak	sub 35′	21
15 Mansour Muftah Al-Abdullah (c)	sub h-t	33
18 Yousuf Khalaf Desmal		20

Substitutes
9 Khalifa Salem	on h-t
17 Mohamed Mubarak	on 35′	24

Manager: Dino Sani

Tactical line-up

Match report

First half: 

Conditions have often changed from one match to the next during this series. This was the tenth fixture from 15, and all had so far been played in the same stadium. Naturally, the playing surface had taken a battering during these past 12 days. It looked patchy and uneven, although on this occasion at least it did seem relatively dry. When United Arab Emirates had met Saudi Arabia three days earlier, there had been surface water scattered around the pitch. Qatar kick the game off through young forward Mahmoud Soufi and his far more experienced strike partner Mansour Muftah Al-Abdullah, who was also wearing the captain’s armband. The pair were indeed their youngest and most senior starters respectively. 

One interesting aspect about this fixture was the ‘duel of the top fowards’, with Qatar’s 18 year old goalscoring sensation Mahmoud Soufi, with no less than five goals to his name so far in the qualification, albeit they had all come in the original group stage, coming up against Adnan Al-Talyani for UAE. The latter had notched the winner when they’d scored twice late to defeat China 2-1, and he’d registered a hell of a goal during their 4-1 away win in Pakistan in the first group stage, when he’d scored almost a ‘van Basten-esque’ goal. He was their leading marksman with three goals hitherto. Al-Talyani had not impressed in the scoreless draw with Saudi Arabia in their last outing, but United Arab Emirates had been less impressive altogether in the wet conditions that day. Here, he’s almost in after just a minute, when a deep cross by Al-Shaibani nearly finds him at the back stick, only for Qatari defender Al-Adsani to head it out for a corner kick. 

Early doors, the game is a very tepid affair with low intensity and ditto enterprise. United Arab Emirates keep most of the possession, but there is a lack of penetration, and defending is an easy task for the Qataris, who sit deep with their back four and monitor the movements of Al-Talyani primarily, but also of UAE’s other forward Juma’a. The latter had impressed through his workrate against the Saudis, but in the early stages of this match he is hardly visible. United Arab Emirates’ defensive four operate slightly higher in the pitch, which mirrors the game picture. Eight and a half minutes in, they’re almost exposed, as Al-Abdullah, their striker and captain, feeds a short ball to midfielder Desmal, who proceeds to tread him through, although a poor touch lets him down as Al-Abdullah is in on the blindside of UAE centre-back Mubarak Ghanim. Goalkeeper Musabah can collect. 

The opening quarter of an hour won’t go down in history as memorable. Both teams toil, often attempting to transport the ball through crowded areas in the centre, although Qatar appear more keen on also making use of their right hand side when moving forward. For United Arab Emirates, the tough-tackling Abdulrahman at the deep of their midfield and his central compatriot Abdul Razaq are the two players at the heart of these moves. Especially the latter comes forward with intent, and can be seen driving through a motionless Qatari midfield, which isn’t highly focused on defensive checking. 

On 20 minutes the game bursts into life, as Khamees wins a right wing corner off Juma Salem. Left-sided midfielder Al-Shaibani comes across to swing it in with his left foot, and while his first attempt is headed out for a second corner by Qatari left-back Juma Salem, UAE’s second effort comes out trumps. As Al-Shaibani swings it towards the near post, where Al-Sulaiti has moved forward to try and head it away in a duel with Khamees, the ball takes a touch off Desmal’s head, as the attacking midfielder had taken up a position just in front of them. Neither Al-Sulaiti nor Khamees gets to the ball, and Juma Salem subsequently kicks into thin air, as the ball travels across the six yard box for central defender Khalil Ghanim to poke home. This is his second goal of the series. United Arab Emirates have a valuable goal. 

The three Arabic teams competing in this final group stage of the AFC qualification all have a Brazilian manager. On this occasion two former Brazil international team mates come head to head, as UAE’s Mário Zagallo and Qatar’s Dino Sani both featured at the 1958 World Cup. Zagallo had sat his team up in 4-4-2 in their previous fixture, when they’d struggled against a decent Saudi Arabia outfit, despite earning a point in a 0-0 draw. Perhaps had he felt that the difficult conditions in that match made United Arab Emirates look inferior than they actually are, and that this was part of the reason for why he’d named an unchanged eleven for this vital clash. 

In goal was 25 year old Muhsin Musabah, a somewhat unorthodox customer in the way he went about his goalkeeping task. He was no stranger to the spectacular, making dives and punches when other custodians would perhaps have opted for more conventional methods. He’d kept goal for all of their hitherto eight qualifiers for Italia ’90, so Musabah clearly had Zagallo’s faith. 

At the heart of their four man defensive line sat the pair of Ghanim brothers. The older by two years, Mubarak Ghanim, was also the team captain. He was the right-sided stopper, with 24 year old Khalil Ghanim featuring to his brother’s left. The latter was arguably the stronger one aerially of the pair, and by now he’d notched two goals in this series. UAE’s right-back was 22 year old Mohamed Obaid Al-Zahiri, a player who was not foreign to come forward, something which was also the case as he did not have an outright wide midfielder ahead of him along that flank. Ibrahim Meer, the left-back, had a left-sided midfielder working in front of him. Defensively, Meer has probably had more to do thus far, though neither has been duly worried.

United Arab Emirates’ midfield four had a slight left-sided bias to it, as there was no designated wide midfielder towards the right. This had indeed been the case against Saudi Arabia, too, with the 24 year old Nasir Khamees Mubarak the player appearing to the right of their central pair, but not as a wide option. Khamees would also come into central areas or the right sided channel at best, but would allow his full-back behind him to pop up to along the right. The two in the centre were once again Abdulrahman Mohamed Abdullaham as the more defensive one, and 22 year old Abdul Razaq Ibrahim in the somewhat advanced role. The latter had greater attacking freedom, and was typically driving forward ball at feet, and often attempting to do so through the crowded centre. 26 year old Abdulrahman had not put himself about as much so far as he had done against the Saudis, when he’d been such a fierce competitor, seemingly relishing the wet conditions then. Their oldest player, 27 year old Hassan Mohamed Al-Shaibani, may keep width, but he harbours few intentions to try and take his full-back on and get to the byline. He is more a defensive reassurance. His crosses will rather come from deep positions, and he’s trusted with right wing corner duties, as seen by the goal. 

Up top were Adnan Al-Talyani and Ali Thani Juma’a, 24 and 21 years of age respectively. While the former was often their focal point when someone deeper in the pitch was attempting to play a striker in, and Al-Talyani was operating more directly through the centre than his companion, Juma’a had a tendency to drift into the channels, and so far more so towards the left. He does not pose a goal threat like the more direct Al-Talyani does, but the lack of service is so far something of a problem. However, Zagallo won’t care who his goal source is. 

When your team goes a goal down, you as a manager will want to see some kind of response. It would not be entirely fair on Dino Sani’s side that they’ve been vastly inferior, but they’ve not really come out from their shell so far, and there is hardly any improvement in the way they go about this first half after they’ve conceded. They maintain their second gear approach, where pace is absent, and where runs off the balls by players in more advanced positions are not easy to spot. Their manager can hardly be pleased with what he’s seeing. There’s a looping Al-Adsani header from an Al-Mehaizaa right wing corner, but then Al-Abdullah is adjudged to have fouled Musabah as he challenged the goalkeeper for the ball. 

United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, continue to look inspired, and are not shy in their efforts to search for a second goal, which could potentially kill the game. Their main source of inspiration is still Abdul Razaq, and twice, on 25 and 29 minutes respectively, his sheer will power takes him to the byline from where he attempts cutbacks for team mates. While Al-Adsani interfers on the first occasion, the UAE #16 does succeed to find the lurking Al-Talyani just before the half hour mark, and the striker connects first time with his left foot, trying to guide the ball home by the right hand post. Goalkeeper Ahmed dives to his left to make a save. 

The young Mahmoud Soufi was one of the players whom we had been looking forward to the most observing. As we have very limited information about formations and players positions in their previous Italia ’90 qualifiers, we’d have guessed for the now 18 year old Somali born player to be a striker. He may well have featured up top in Qatar’s previous matches, but on this occasion his manager has placed him wide to the left in a midfield quintet. Qatar are in a 4-5-1 formation, and Soufi has yet to come to the fore in this game, displaying some tactical ineptitude, perhaps unsurprisingly given his tender age. His sloppiness saw him concede possession inside his own half on two occasions, and he’d made no mark on the game in an attacking capacity yet. 

As goalkeeper we see Younes Ahmed, a 26 year old who has been the busier of the two custodians in the opening half an hour in Singapore’s national stadium. Perhaps had some questions been asked regarding his failure to claim the ball which travelled past him inside the six yard area for UAE’s goal, but he could hardly have predicted his full-backs miskick to allow the younger Ghanim brother to tuck the ball home. Ahmed had so far done what could’ve been asked from him. 

He had a couple of aerially competent centre-halves in front of him in Mansour Al-Sulaiti as the right-sided of the pair, and the even more imposing Yousuf Al-Adsani to the left. They needed to be constantly alert to the movement of UAE striker Al-Talyani. Whenever there was an attacking set-piece for the Qataris, both stoppers would be trusted forward. In the build-up phase, they would allow holding midfielder Al-Khater to come and pick the ball off them. Full-backs were Mohammed Al-Suwaidi to the right and teenager Juma Salem Johar to the left. Defensively, the latter had been tested the most so far, even if the opponents were not operating with a designated wide right midfielder. Different players would enter Johar’s space, and at times the 19 year old’s positioning would come into question. He’d also failed to clear the ball ahead of the Emirates’ goal. 

Their midfield shape seemed to have a right-sided tilt to it. Wide right they had 24 year old Saleh Eid Al-Mehaizaa, who had yet to impress. He seemed fairly mediocre, and he’d not been able to impose himself on UAE left-back Meer in any capacity. Inside of him was Al-Kuwari Mubarak, 21 years of age, who was clearly more involved. A relatively physically adept player, he was also winning a couple of aerial duels, although perhaps had his radius diminished somewhat after he’d crashed into the advertising hoardings some 15 minutes into the contest. At the base of their midfield five sat Mubarak Salem Al-Khater, and his work predominantly consisted of picking the ball from his central defenders and shifting it onwards for either Al-Kuwari or the more attacking Yousuf Desmal. The latter, a 20 year old, has some say when they try to move forward collectively, and he works in rather central areas, trying to play in lone striker and captain Mansour Muftah Al-Abdullah. The latter had indeed been played in on goal early, but failed with his touch and saw the opportunity gone. 

After another few uneventful minutes, Qatar make the first change of the game when Al-Kurawi is replaced by Mohamed Mubarak. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why this substitution was made, although as we have already suggested, it could have something to do with his encounter with the advertising hoardings, although this had taken place 20 minutes earlier. 

Moments later, Soufi attempts to dash past Khamees down the Qatar left hand side, so when the latter tries to grip on to the opponent’s shirt, referee Petrović deems it a foul worthy of a booking, the first of the game. The free kick from the left is hit into the area from Desmal’s right foot, and central defender Al-Sulaiti towers above his adversary, who for the occasion is full-back Obaid. The header, however, comes from 15 yards out, and should perhaps not have ended up in the back of the net via the ground. Goalkeeper Musabah probably reacted late, and was tricked by the bounce two yards from the goalline, but the equalizer didn’t flatter him. 

Just as Qatar were waiting to hit the free-kick which led to the goal into the area, even United Arab Emirates made a first half substitution. Just after the half hour mark, Juma’a had pulled up as he attempted a shot from the edge of the area, going down and grimacing, clearly in discomfort, holding the back of his right thigh. On for Juma’a came Fahad Khamees, the 27 year old brother of Nasir, who featured in midfield. 

Both substitutes had been direct replacements for the players whom they stepped in for, so there was no change in formation in either camp. Mohamed Mubarak had taken over for Al-Kuwari in the Qatari side, meaning he was operating in midfield, between the deep-lying Al-Khater and wide right option Al-Mehaizaa, whilst Fahad Khamees had joined forces with Al-Talyani up top for the Emirates. The equalizer had seemed to reinvigorate Qatar, who had upped their game somewhat, although it is a far stretch calling the remaining few minutes of the opening half an enterprising sequence. However, big drama is yet to come, with the referee adding plenty of time to the original 45 at the end of the half. 

From a right wing corner by Al-Mehaizaa, Soufi outjumps goalkeeper Musabah, who has not had a particularly happy ending to the opening period. His header is goalbound, but on the line is Abdul Razaq to save it by the use of his right hand. He does lean towards the right to make it look like he got his head to it, but the Yugoslav official is in no doubt as to the offence, and so Mr Petrović awards Qatar a 49th minute penalty. Soufi thinks the ball has crossed the line, and has run away to celebrate, and felt robbed when a spot kick was awarded instead. Centre-back Al-Sulaiti, already with a goal to his name, stepped up to convert, but using his right foot, he proceeded to send the ball low just past the upright. And then sounded the signal for half time.

Half time score: United Arab Emirates 1, Qatar 1.

Second half:

The footage from the final 45 does not include the kick-off, but we realize how we enter only moments after. Conditions appear to have deteriorated, so it is quite possible that there had been a pretty heavy downpour during the interval, as some parts of the pitch, akin to UAE’s previous match against Saudi Arabia, again have surface water. There has also been a second change for Qatar, who have withdrawn their captain and lone striker Al-Abdullah, and brought on Khalifa Salem in his place. The latter is wearing the #9 shirt, and has taken up his predecessor’s position up top. 

Qatar appear somewhat reinvigorated, with greater impetus, realizing how they can’t afford to drop points in this game if they are serious about challenging for a World Cup berth. They would even appear to have brought their two wide players, Al-Mehaizaa and Soufi, higher in the pitch in an attempt to lend striker Salem support, and even Desmal in the advanced midfield position can be seen in an attacking position. Manager Sani seems to have thrown caution to the wind in their quest for a vital second goal. 

United Arab Emirates showed against the Saudis how they struggled in wet conditions, and while they remain competitive on this occasion, some of the initiative which they’d maintained for large spells of the opening period, at least until the Qatari leveller, has eluded them early in the second half. Al-Mehaizaa, Qatar’s right-sided outlet, had been one of the pitch’ more anonymous players during the first half, but had come to life since the start of the second period. He showed that he did have something about him after all, making powerful bursts on a couple of occasions, moving in field and firing on target. Not that Musabah struggled to save his effort. 

The game never at any points bursts into unbridled pace and intensity. Both teams remain at a fairly sedate tempo, with little intention or even capacity to disrupt the even rhythm at which the second half continues to evolve. There are few hefty challenges, and the camaraderie between the two sets of players appears benign. While a draw seems to suit United Arab Emirates, the Qataris will continue to be upset that they had failed to make use of that huge opportunity to enter the dressing rooms at half time a goal up, with Al-Sulaiti’s penalty having gone wide of the upright. They have not quite been able to engage their new forward in play, as Salem is largely being kept at bay by the two brothers at the heart of the UAE defence. Mubarak, though, Qatar’s first half substitute, lends a fine impression, mainly through his physique, which he uses to good effect in order to win possession. 

United Arab Emirates seem to have lost that first line of defence after Ali Thani Juma’a had departed with injury towards the end of the first half. His successor Fahad Khamees certainly didn’t have that intensity in his press play and chasing of opponents, and the same applied for his partner up top, Al-Talyani. As a result, Qatar were able to steadily build from the back with little or no interruption. 

When Qatar had taken off Al-Abdullah during the half-time break, they had at the same time left behind the captain’s armband in the dressing room. None of their players have inherited the captain’s symbol for the final 45. They are a rather young team, with right-back Al-Suwaidi now their oldest player at 27. One of their more inspirational players, as someone who seems to shout messages to his team mates, is central defender Al-Adsani. The captaincy wouldn’t have been lost on him. 

With the game progressing towards 75 minutes, there is still not a whole lot happening in front of either goal, although United Arab Emirates seem to have earned back some of their dominance. They seem to be on the front foot the longer the half develops, and engaging right-back Obaid in attacking play, we see him make it to the byline to pin a cross towards the back stick, where the Qatari defence manages to head away for a corner. UAE’s holding midfielder Abdulrahman, throughout the contest one of the more inspired players on the pitch, fires an effort wide of the upright from distance. Interestingly, we’ve seen the Chinese team warm up in the background for their game against North Korea, which will take place on the same pitch once this game has concluded. 

In the game’s final quarter of an hour, it opens up quite considerably in the wet conditions. Players in both camps are tiring, but there is no lack of final effort. United Arab Emirates had been looking the stronger towards the 85 minute mark, though they couldn’t quite trouble Ahmed in the Qatar goal. An effort from a wide position by Fahad Khamees saw the goalkeeper throw himself, but it was always going wide, and later Al-Talyani would pull himself inside from the left hand channel and direct a shot on target, only for Ahmed to save without any bother. This was at a point when Qatar had committed a number of players forward in order to try and get that important winner, which would bring them right back into contention for qualifying. Even centre-back Al-Adsani was thrown forward, and he did indeed on one occasion get on the end of a pass from Al-Khater, only to see UAE skipper Mubarak Ghanim block his shot from inside the area. 

It was a frantic finale in what had by then become a see-saw spectacle, and players were visibly exhausted. Soufi, who had not often enough worked himself into positions from where he could finish on goal, did have a 25 yard effort which Musabah struggled with, probably due to the ball being slippery more than anything else. So when he did get a sniff of the opposition’s goal, the 18 year old looked a threat. Salem had been a disappointment, and Al-Mehaizaa had only shown in glimpses what he was capable of. It was left to Desmal to provide sparks, but he was also on and off. Qatar’s most impressive player in the second half was probably Mohamed Mubarak in midfield. 

The referee signalled an end to the game with some two and a half minutes of additional time having been played. A draw was probably a just result in the end, and it left the group wide open still as to who would follow likely winners South Korea through to the World Cup. The group leaders would only play their fourth and penultimate fixture, against Saudi Arabia, the following day. 

Final score: United Arab Emirates 1, Qatar 1.