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UAE Olympic squad defeat South Korea to qualify to finals

Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Adviser of the National Security Council and Honorary President of the UAE Football Association, congratulated the UAE Olympic squad for qualifying to the final match of the 16th Asian Games in China after beating favorites South Korea with a solitary goal in their semifinal played on Tuesday November 23rd. The UAE team will face Japan for the gold medal on Thursday November 25th in Guangzhou, kick off at 3pm.

The UAE and their counterparts, South Korea, played a well balanced game that extended to 120 minutes after both teams failed to find the net through all the official time to resort to another half hour as extra time. The Koreans created a number of chances and came close to score in many occasions, but the UAE goalkeeper Ali Khusaif spoiled all their attempts and saved bravely all their attacks.

The game was heading towards the penalty shootout stage had not for Ahmad Ali succeeded to drive the ball home in the last seconds to score the all- important goal of the match that took his side into the final encounter. The unmarked Ahmad Ali received a perfect pass from his teammate Omer Abdul Rahman to face the Korean hapless goalkeeper Lee Bum-young before sending the ball to his right hand side into the net. Lee, whom his coach believes in his capabilities and abilities in penalty shootout, was brought in only a few minutes before the final whistle to substitute the team's first choice.

Earlier in the day Japan overcame Iran with a 2-1 win in the semi-final. The losers, South Korea and Iran, will compete tomorrow for the bronze medal.