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Uzbekistan Olympic Team hold UAE to a goalless draw

The UAE and Uzbekistan Olympic Football Teams were held to a goalless draw in their Asian Olympic qualifications, London 2012 second group match held this evening at Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain Club. The visiting team raised their tally to 4 points to retain their leadership of the group while the hosts are two points behind taking second position.

The UAE will take on Iraq in the third round on Sunday November 23 at the same venue and Australia will host Uzbekistan on the same day.

The match was marred by male display from both sides especially the UAE squad who played below the par and their performance was shaky and  was lack of concentration. The two teams played with great care in the opening minutes with the UAE players creating two early chances through Ahmed Khalil and Amer Omer but they could not score in the 6th and 11th minutes respectively. The visitors relied heavily on defensive tactics with all the players retreating to the back line leaving Temurkhuja Abdukholioov alone in the front line. 

Ali Mabkhout was almost to net the first goal of the match when he was sent free with only the goalkeeper to beat, but instead of hooking the ball over the advancing goalie, he sent it wide squandering a valuable chance three minutes before the breather.

Mahdi Ali, the UAE coach, made some substitutions in the second session fielding in Mohammad Fayez and Mohammad Jamal to replace Abdul Aziz Sanghoor and Abdul Aziz Haikal. The UAE went on their attempts, putting more pressure on their rivals' defense and their midfielder Habib Al Fardan came close to put them into the lead but he lost a lovely opportunity in the 61st minute. The UAE went all out in the last minutes trying to score but the Uzbek's defense stood solid on their way. Their hapless striker Ali Mabkhout squandered another sitter in the 75th minute when he was put free but again failed to make it and his colleague Ahmed Khalil was unlucky to see his rocket-like shot off a dead ball saved brilliantly by the Uzbek's goalkeeper Kuvvatov Sanjur four minutes before the final whistle.