UAE down 10-man Palestine joint qualifiers

Dubai - The Australian referee awarded the UAE a penalty kick which was strongly challenged by the visitors.

Two goals by Ismail Al Hammadi and Ahmed Khalil earned UAE a badly needed win against 10-man Palestine in their penultimate crucial tie in the Group-A 2018 Fifa World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup Joint Qualifiers at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Thursday night.
The Palestinians held proceedings at the start as the UAE lads failed to live up to the satisfaction of the big crowd which packed the venue.
"The match was very important for both sides and for this reason our players needed some time to settle," said the UAE head coach Mahdi Ali later.
But, the turning point of the match came in the 32nd minute, when Omer Abdul Rahman sent a long-range pass which was poorly cleared by the Palestinian defender and Ahmed Khalil collected the ball ahead of the box and passed to Ismail Al Hammadi who exchanged passes with Khalil in a lovely 1-2 that ended into the back of the Palestinian net by Ismail Al Hammadi. This, however, was the result at half-time.
"It is true that the UAE advantage has come against the run of the match thanks to the initiative of the two spearheads, but the Whites were in command thereafter," Ali admitted in his chat with a TV reporter.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians tried to fight back and successfully created a handful of good scoring opportunities without much success up-front.
Both coaches interfered as the match progressed and Mahdi Ali pulled out Ahmed Ali and sent in Mohammed Abdul Rahman to lend a hand to his brother Amoory in midfield and the move paid dividends in less than 15 minutes after the restart.
Mohammed Fawzi operated from the right flank and his cross hit the hand of the Palestinian left back. The Australian referee awarded the UAE a penalty kick which was strongly challenged by the visitors. However, the AFC Player Of The Year Ahmed Khalil made no mistake from the spot after sending the keeper the wrong way at the hour mark.
The situation became even worse for the Palestinians when Mohammed Darwish received the second yellow card and was sent off in the 68th minute.
sports@khaleejtimes.com