The UAE lost to Iran (1-2) at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan this evening, in the third and final round of Group C of the Asian Cup in Qatar. Despite the defeat, the UAE qualified to face Tajikistan, the second place in Group A, at 8 PM next Sunday (UAE time) in the knockout stage of the continental tournament, having secured second place with 4 points. The UAE ranked higher on goal difference over Palestine, which finished third after winning (3-0) against Hong Kong this evening at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha in the same round. Iran secured the top spot in Group C with 9 points from 3 matches, while Hong Kong exited the Asian Cup with no points.
The first half was one-sided in favor of Iran, which wasted an opportunity to settle the match early by missing several chances to score multiple goals. Iran only succeeded in scoring once in the 26th minute, through Mehdi Taremi, following a pass from his teammate Sardar Azmoun, catching the UAE defenders off guard. The referee disallowed a goal for Iran in the 33rd minute due to an offside on the scorer Ali Golizadeh, after reviewing it with video technology.
The second half began quickly, with the UAE showing improved attacking performance. The referee awarded a penalty to the UAE after reviewing the video technology, following a foul against Yahya Al-Ghasani. Al-Ghasani took the penalty himself, but it was saved by the Iranian goalkeeper Alireza, in the 64th minute. The UAE players were still reeling from the shock when Iran struck again with a powerful shot from Mehdi Taremi in the 65th minute. The referee disallowed another goal for Iran for an offside on the scorer Sardar Azmoun in the 67th minute, and later disallowed a third goal from Iran scored by Mohammad Mohebi after checking with video technology in the 81st minute.
The UAE national team succeeded in scoring a qualification goal for the next round of the tournament in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, with a strong shot from inside the penalty area by Yahya Al-Ghasani.
