AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers: UAE Edge India 1-0 Courtesy 82nd-Minute Penalty Kick

India were on the receiving end of a heart-wrenching 0-1 defeat at the hands of hosts UAE in their second match of the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers at the Fujairah Stadium in Dubai on Wednesday (October 27, 2021).

Incidentally, both of the Group E encounters ended in a similar fashion on the night. Oman got the better of Kyrgyz Republic thanks to a late penalty like the hosts UAE, who pipped India owing to an 82nd-minute spot-kick by Abdulla Idrees.

Igor Stimac made only one change to the team that got a 2-1 win against Oman in their previous game, having brought in Lalengmawia at the expense of Aniket Jadhav to make the midfield more compact against UAE. The hosts went 1-2 down against the Kyrgyz Republic in their first outing of the qualifying campaign, three days back.

Both the teams started with a safety-first approach before Rahim Ali squeezed in to make room for himself in the six-yard-box, but before he could connect to the long throw-in by Asish, UAE goalkeeper Suhail Abdulla Almutawa collected the ball calmly.

Before the clock struck the half-hour mark, India launched back-to-back attacks but the opponents dealt with them to cut the scorer out of the equation.

Suresh, who led the team for the second match in a row, lobbed a ball to Rahul KP, but Abdulla Idrees managed to clear it. Vikram Partap tried to get a shot off on the rebound, but Saeed Sulaiman blocked his attempt.

Three minutes past the half-hour mark, Dheeraj came to the rescue act, having blocked a dangerous attack from Rashed Salem Mubarak from handshaking distance. Mohammad Abbas passed it to Sultan Adeel and before anyone could notice, Rashed made a darting run from the right. Dheeraj anticipated it superbly and denied the hosts.

Rahul got himself onto the end of a cross from the right by Asish, and tapped it in past the keeper, but his celebrations were cut short after referee Fu Ming adjudged Rahim Ali, who had alledgedly touched to ball on the way, to be off-side. With that, the two teams headed into the tunnel level on scores at the lemon break.

The hosts, who were tottering at the bottom of the table, re-joined with more vigour and they took only four minutes to launch their first attack in the second half.

Marwan Fahad leapt above others to convert a long throw-in from Abbas but Dheeraj came to the rescue act once again in the 49th minute.

Abdullah Sultan Alblooshi could have made his presence count with his first contribution after coming off the bench but the substitute’s header missed the target by an inch or two to leave the Indian defenders much relieved in the 60th minute.

As Al Saleh got blocked by Dheeraj, UAE shouted for a penalty but the referee didn’t pay any attention to the appeal. Sultan took a steering header to the farthest post but missed the target.