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UAE National Football Team overcome Qatar before facing Kuwait

The UAE National Football Team beat their Qatari counterparts in the friendly game played last night on Tahnoon Bin Mohammad Stadium at Qattara in Al Ain which came as a last test for the team in the framework of preparations for their opening match against Kuwait in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, scheduled for September 2nd.

 The UAE National Team ended the first half with a lone goal lead netted by defender Hamdan Al Kamali off a penalty kick in the 24th minute. Ahmad Khalil added two more goals after the break, while Marconi Costa, succeeded in reducing the deficit when he scored the only goal of Qatar just two minutes before the final whistle.

The match was attended by Mohammad Khalfan Matar Al Rumaithi Chairman of the UAE Football Association, Yousuf Al Mahmoud, Acting Diplomat in the Qatari Embassy in UAE,  Jibril  Al Ragoubi President of the Palestinian Football Association, Rashid Al Zeaabi member of the UAE Football Association Board of Directors,  Dr. Khalid Mohammad Abdullah  Assistant Secretary-General of the UAE Football Association and CEO of the Professional League Committee and Nasser Bin Thaloub Director of the UAE Football Association Chairman's Office along with a few number of spectators..  
The Slovenian UAE National Football Team coach Strecko Katanec started the game with Majid Nasser as goalkeeper, Hamdan Al Kamali, Waleed Abbas, Khalid Sabeel and Yousuf Jaber in the defense line, Ali Al Wihaibi, Subait Khatir, Amer Abdul Rahman and Ismail Al Hammadi in the midfield while Mohammad Al Shehhy and Salim Saleh spearheaded the front line. The coach made six substitutions after the interval bringing in Ahmad Khalil, Amer Mubarak, Mahmoud Khamis, Ahmad Juma'a, Essa Santo and Mohammad Fawzi to replace Salim Saleh, Subait Khatir, Ismail Al Hammadi, Mohammad Al Shehhy, Ali Al Wihaibi and Amer Abdul Rahman, respectively.
The UAE Team players threatened the Qatari goal many times thanks to the solid performance, proper positioning and accurate passing, but without benefiting off all the opportunities they had created in front of the Qatari goalmouth. But their continuous pressure resulted in a penalty when the Qatari defender Mousa Al Alaq fouled Ismail Al Hammadi inside the box and Hamdan Al Kamali made no mistake sending the ball to the right hand side of the goalkeeper Ndaye in the 24th minutes ending the first half with a 1-0 lead.
The two coaches made a number of substitutions in the second half and the UAE Team continued to control the game, which resulted in two more goals scored by substitute Ahmad Khalil in the 50th and 69th minutes.

The Qatari squad did not demonstrate good performance through all the game and could not threaten goalkeeper Majid Nasser, except only once when Marconi Costa netted the lone goal for the visitors only two minutes before the final whistle to end the game with a 3/1 win for UAE.