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UAE humiliate visitors Lebanon 6-2 in a friendly match

 

The UAE National Football Team beat their counterparts Lebanon 6-2 in their friendly game played tonight at Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain Club. The game was the last of the home team's preparations for their home and away matches against India in the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The UAE squad will host Indian National team next Saturday in their first leg to be played at the same venue and face the visitors in the away encounter on July 28th in New Dalhi.

The two teams played below the par especially after the break as the hosts seemed satisfied with the four goals they scored before the interval. The visiting team were highly affected by the absence of a number of their key players mainly in the defense and midfield lines.

The home team controlled the game from the word go giving their opponents hard time and their continuous efforts were soon rewarded when striker Ahmad Khalil found the back of the net only 9 minutes into play capitalizing on the severe blunder committed by the visitors' goalkeeper Hassan Moghaneya. Khalid came to make it 2-0 nine minutes later.

The home team went on trying to raise their tally and it was Mohammad Al Shihy who made their dreams come true when he netted the third goal in the 22nd minute and Mahmoud Al Ali reduced the deficit when he slammed home Lebanon's first goal after UAE's defender Waleed Abbas failed to clear the ball away. Hamdan Al Kamaly finished the first session with a 4-1 lead for the hosts when they were awarded a penalty three minutes before the break.

The performance of both teams came down in the second half especially after Ahmad Khalil scored the fifth goal off Yousuf Jaber's perfect pass in the 54th minute. Mohammad Al Ali scored the visitors' second goal in the 67th minute.

The UAE Slovenian coach Katanec made several substitutes afterwards bringing on Faris Juma'a, Ahmad Ali, Ahmad Juma'a, Ziyab Awana and Mohammad Fawzi to replace Waleed Abbas, Amir Mubarak, Ahmad Khalil, Mohammad Al Shihy and Ali Al Wihaibi in the 70th minute. Dhiyab Awana scored the sixth goal off a penalty when he hit the ball with his heel into the net and the referee punished him with a yellow card for what seemed to be and judged as a bad conduct. The UAE Slovenian coach Katanec was not pleased with the way Dhiyab played the penalty and he decided on the spot to pull him off after playing only nine minutes.

Katanec made four other substitutes with Khalid Sabil, Salim Saleh, Mohammad Jamal and Musalam Fayez replacing Mohammad Ahmad, Dhiyab Awana, Amir Abdul Rahman and Hamdan Al Kamali five minutes from the final whistle.