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UAE footballers hand Indians a 5-0 drubbing

DUBAI - UAE flexed their muscles with a 5-0 win over India in their final warm-up before the Gulf Cup at Al wasl Stadium here on Thursday night.

The hosts led 2-0 at half-time. Saeed Al Kas headed home the first goal in the 15^th minute of the first half and Amer Mubarak doubled the scoreline in the 35^th minute with a lovely header. Ali Al Weihibi made it 3-0 at the one-hour mark, Ahmed Juma added the fourth goal in the 71^st minute before Al Weihibi came up with a strong run to add the fifth goal one minute later.

Few hundreds of faithful Indian fans cheered their players from inside the venue while there was not much support for UAE with the home fans preferring to stay away from the match.

UAE are preparing for the 20^th Gulf Cup scheduled to be held from November 22 to December 5 in the Yemeni cities of Aden and Abyan while the Indians are fine-tuning their squad for the 2011AFC Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar. India have reached the finals of the continental showpiece as winners of the 2010 AFC Cup.

Contrary to early expectations, the less experienced Indian side defended courageously to stop their speedy UAE opponents from scoring in the first period of the almost one-sided game. At least in the first half, the Indians looked to have learnt their lessons after the heavy 2-9 loss to Kuwait a few days ago. They adopted a strict defensive tactic, denying their rivals more goals. In between, Indian strikers had two look at the UAE goals, which were dealt with ease by UAE. UAE players virtually controlled the match as they had 82 per cent possession in the first half as against India’s 18 per cent. Their Slovenian coach said he didn’t need to play against a strong side. “This game is very crucial for us because we want to build our strategy which we will be implementing during the Gulf Cup,” he said.

“I have five new players and they must be tested in a relatively easy encounter. I also wanted to try as many players as possible before we head for Yemen on Sunday,” he added.

UAE will now head for Aden on Sunday leaving behind them the country’s ace Ismail Matar and Al Wahda players who are carrying the country’s hopes in the upcoming 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. The Whites will also miss the efforts of Al Ahli’s scoring machine Ahmed Khalil who is engaged with the national Olympic team in the 16^th Asian Games.

hisham@khaleejtimes.com