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UAE lose second friendly to Angola

The UAE Senior National football team lost their second successive international friendly game, going down to Angola 0-2 in their match played at Zayed Sports City on Tuesday, October 12. It is the fourth defeat for the home team out of 13 matches (friendly and official) played under the guidance of their Slovenian coach Srecko Katanec. They previously lost to Iraq 1-3 and Algeria 0-1, and recently to Chile 0-2 on the same pitch.

The UAE squad is currently warming up prior to their participation in the 20th Gulf Cup due to kick off in Yemen next month, as well as The AFC Asian Cup finals which will be held in Doha, Qatar in January 2011.

The home team played defensively and relied mostly on counter attacks but they couldn't penetrate Angola's defense, which stood solid and spoiled all of the UAE team's attempts. Their best opportunities came from free kicks and midfielder Sultan Bargash came close to reap the benefits of one of them but unfortunately his fierce shot went over the cross bar only 12 minutes into the game. The visitors, who put more pressure on the home team, were the better side after dominating most aspects of the match. Their continuous forays were soon rewarded when Maeco Antonio scored an early goal in the 21st minute with a perfect header capitalising off a ball switched by a teammate from the right flank. In spite of controlling the match through all the first session, the Angolan players failed to produce more goals as they squandered all their chances to end the first half with a 1-0 lead.

Both coaches made some changes in their line-ups after the break bringing in a number of substitutes, but the pace of the game remained the same with Angola having their continuous control over their rivals. They had a chance to increase their tally but Afonso's header from inside the six-yard area missed the target. The UAE's Mahmoud Khamis also came close to score the equaliser but his close-range header went over the cross bar. The visitors made it 2-0 when the unmarked substitute Dorivaldo Dias headed the ball home two minutes before the end of the match.

Srecko Katanec, coach of UAE team, attributed the defeat to the absence of some of his key players whom he had been training for more than a year. He was also critical of UAE fans who failed to come and support their team, with the stands of the stadium left quite empty.