Riyadh: The UAE coach Mahdi Ali vowed to build and improve upon his squad ahead of January’s Asian Cup after being knocked out in the Gulf Cup semi-finals with a 3-2 defeat to hosts Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Salem Al Dawsari fired home a winner five minutes from time after Ahmad Khalil’s second half double cancelled out earlier first half strikes from Nasser Al Shamrani and Nawaf Al Abid.
The Green Falcons will now play Qatar in Wednesday’s Gulf Cup final after the Maroons beat Oman 3-1 in Sunday’s other semi-final, consigning defending champions UAE to a third place-playoff with Oman on Tuesday.
Ali said his next target was to refresh the squad and prepare for the forthcoming Asian Cup in Australia from January 9-31, starting from the Gulf Cup third-place playoff.
“There were mistakes which led to the defeat and that is my responsibility as coach, we hope to rectify them in the coming days,” he said.
“We are always looking to bring players in, and now we have 45 days left [until the Asian Cup] and we will see how we can best prepare them.”
Omar Abdul Rahman hobbled off for Esmail Al Hammadi at 2-0 down to complete the UAE’s misery, but Ali praised his players for coming back after the break.
“We played well despite Omar’s exit,” he added. “We didn’t deserve to lose but we say congrats to Saudi. Omar is very important but we played well in the second half anyway, especially after going 2-0 down.
“I think you saw our fans cheering the team despite the loss, and even the Saudi fans waited to applaud them, so, I don’t need to laud these players.”
Ali denied the UAE sat too far back in the first half, leaving themselves exposed when they had to chase the game after the interval.
“We were balanced in the first half, not too defensive, but that changed with the first goal, but this is football. Today we were unlucky.
“Everyone poured forward in the last 10 minutes and it was natural that there would be many chances in that period.”
Senior UAE striker Esmail Mattar said he felt Saudi Arabia were beatable and apologised to supporters for the defeat. “There were opportunities created to make the final, but were not able to make the most of them,” he said. “I was hoping to put us through in this tournament but god did not will it.
“I thank the fans for the support they have given us and we are sad because we did not please them with the win.”
Omar went to the hospital after the game but scans showed his ankle was bruised, not broken.
