UAE football keeps alive London Olympic dream

The UAE ended Australia's hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, winning a Group B fixture of the AFC Asian Qualifiers 1-0 on Wednesday to bolster its own chances of playing at the Games for the first time.

After several good chances for Australia, UAE midfielder Omar Abdulrahman took a backheel pass from Rashad Eisa in the 22nd minute and fired a shot underneath a diving Matthew Ryan for the only goal at a packed Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Australia pressed late in the first half and nearly scored when Mate Dugandzic's effort clipped the crossbar in the 40th minute.

UAE could have doubled it in the opening minutes of second half but Rashed Eisa muffed up a golden chance after having done all the hard work. Eisa did a solo with the defenders in hot pursuit but he fired it straight into the hands of the goalkeeper.

UAE coach Mahdi Ali took off midfielder Rashed Eisa and brought in midfielder Mohammed Fawzi in the 54th minute and later replaced forward Ahmed Ali with midfielder Haboosh Saleh in the 64th. Australian coach Aurelio Vidmar brought in forward Kerem Bulut in place of midfielder Ben Kantarovski in the 66th minute.

UAE came close to increasing the lead in the 69th minute but substitute Haboosh Saleh’s sizzling left-footer just whizzed past the left upright.

Australia brought in another forward in Dimitrios Petratos with 15 minutes left, while Ali Ahmed Mabkhout came in for Ahmed Khalil.

UAE tops Group B after Iraq beat Uzbekistan 2-1 Tuesday.

The Uzbeks and UAE meet in the last round of matches on March 14 when Australia will look to end their disappointing campaign on a positive note when they face Iraq.

Only the three group winners are guaranteed a place at the London Olympics with the runners-up entering a round-robin playoff.

The winners of that event then face a one-off game on April 23 in the English city Coventry to face Senegal for the continent's last Olympics spot.

UAE needs only a draw in its away match against Uzbekistan March 14 to qualify for the Olympics. Australia is last and has no chance of qualifying.

South Korea reached their seventh successive Olympic Games with a game to spare on Wednesday when they cruised past Oman 3-0 in Muscat.

Midfielder Nam Tae-hee put Korea ahead inside the first minute with FC Seoul striker Kim Hyun-sung doubling the score in the 68th minute. Kim Min-woo added the third just four minutes later.

Hong Myung-bo's South Korea, who have a four-point lead over second-placed Oman, round off their qualifying campaign on March 14 when they face a Qatar side needing a win to have any hope of claiming the Group A runners-up place.

The Qataris stayed in contention for second place with a 2-1 win at home to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis had taken a 12th-minute lead thanks to a penalty from Ettifaq defender Ahmed Ali Walibi, but the home side were on level terms two minutes from the interval courtesy of skipper Hasan Al Haydos.
Naser Nabeel grabbed the winner 10 minutes from time.

In Group C, Japan virtually made sure of their place in a fifth successive Olympics thanks to a confident 4-0 thrashing of Malaysia.

Before the match, Japan were tied with Syria on nine points and on goal difference, but Syria lost ground with a 2-1 defeat to Bahrain.

Japan now have 12 points, three ahead of Bahrain - who they face in their last game - and Syria.

"If we had scored one or two more goals, it would have been better, but I guess four goals is fine," Japan coach Takashi Sekizuka said.

"I'm satisfied with the performance of the team, and they got the right result at the end. Individually they played well."

Japan showed their dominance in the early minutes of the match after Hiroki Sakai blasted the ball towards the Malaysian goal only to be saved by goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat.

Sakai, however, was spot on in the 35th minute to give his side the lead. Yuya Osako made it 2-0 for Japan before half time.

Genki Haraguchi made it 3-0 in the 55th minute while Manabu Saito stamped his mark by scoring the final goal of the match in the 60th minute.

Malaysia are out of the running for qualification, having lost all five of their games.

Asian zone Olympic qualifying tables

(played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, goal difference, points):

Group A
South Korea     5   3  2  0  8  2  11 - qualified
Oman            5   2  1  2  7  7   7
Qatar           5   1  3  1  6  8   6
Saudi Arabia    5   0  2  3  3  7   2

Group B
UAE             5   3  2  0  5  0  11
Uzbekistan      5   2  2  1  5  2   8
Iraq            5   1  1  3  2  7   4
Australia       5   0  3  2  0  3   3

Group C
Japan           5   4  0  1  11 3  12
Syria           5   3  0  2   9 6   9
Bahrain         5   3  0  2   8 9   9
Malaysia        5   0  0  5   3 13  0

Note: Group winners qualify for Olympics; runners-up take part in a round-robin playoff, with the winners heading to a one-off game on April 23 in the English city Coventry to face Senegal for the continent's last Olympics spot.
 

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