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UAE U-19s fail to qualify for World Cup

Defending champions, the UAE U-19 football team, after losing to Australia 2 - 4 in the quarterfinals played at China's Linzi Stadium yesterday were unable to make their way through to the last four in the AFC U-19 Championship, failing to qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

The UAE's striker, Ahmed Khalil, struck twice to take the game into extra time as the two teams tied at 2-2 at the end of the second half. During extra time, the Australians scored two goals to avenge their 0 - 3 defeat at the hands of their UAE counterparts in the semi-finals of the 2008 tournament in Saudi Arabia.

Australia dominated the encounter from the beginning, with their strikers continuously launching raids at the UAE team's shaky defense. It took just six minutes for Australia's Kerem Bulut to score the first goal. During the 12th minute, the Australians almost added their second goal when UAE goalkeeper Ahmed Shambeya made a spectacular save. By the 18th minute, the UAE team had found its rhythm and almost leveled the score, as Omer Abdulrahman found an opening and passed to Rashid Hassan, whose shot didn't find the back of the net. Following some risky plays, the UAE team managed to lessen the gap, and Ahmad Khalil, the top scorer of the tournament with six goals, was fouled inside the six-yard area during the 22nd minute. Khalil used the opportunity to convert the penalty into a net to equalise the score and end the first session at 1 - 1.

The Australians continued to press hard in the second session, looking for their second goal, and three minutes in, they took back the lead when Mustafa Amini rounded the defender Mohammed Saeed and sent a fierce shot to make the score 2 - 1. The Australians relied on counter attack tactics and played defensively to secure their lead, but Ahmed Khalil, despite being tightly marked, surprised them again when he received a perfect pass from Omer Abdulrahman and slammed the ball home with only six minutes before the final whistle to bring the match back to a 2 -2 tie, sending the game into extra time and reviving hope for the UAE.

During the extra time, the UAE defenders kept committing the same errors, and the Australians continued to exploit the openings. The Australian substitute Fletcher passed the ball behind the UAE defense for Matthew Leckie to send the ball home and give his side a 3- 2 lead in the 95th minute. The hopes of the UAE team were dashed when Fletcher followed-up with a close-range volley.

In the other matches of the day, Saudi Arabia came from behind to secure a seat in the semi-final and proceed directly to the 2011 World Cup finals with a 2- 1 victory over Uzbekistan. The Uzbeks took an early lead only 7 minutes from the kickoff, and Abdullah Otaif equalised the score for the Saudi squad in the 83rd minute to end the official time with a 1 - 1 draw. Fahad Al Johani scored the winning goal five minutes into the first extra time.

Both South and North Korea also collected their tickets to the AFC U-19 Championship semi-finals, following their 3- 2 and 2 - 0 wins over Japan and China respectively. They have also qualified for the 2011 World Cup in Colombia.