UAE football captain and coach step down

The UAE football interm coach Abdulla Misfir and captain have resigned after the country’s impressive win against Lebanon on Wednesday.

A number of football players will also quit playing international matches.

Despite losing to the UAE, Lebanon moved a step close to reaching their first World Cup soccer finals in the third round of Asian qualifiers on Wednesday.

Lebanon went into Wednesday's match knowing they would guarantee progress by avoiding defeat.

They were backed by thousands of passionate supporters who turned half the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi into a sea of red. With the UAE having no chance to qualify, the other half of the stadium was almost empty.

A goalkeeping error by Abbas Hassan, who dropped a free kick from Basheer Saeed into his net after 20 minutes, allowed UAE to go a goal up.

Lebanon equalised two minutes later when Mahmoud Al Ali burst through to score but he injured himself in the process and had to be replaced.

Ali Al Wehaibi restored the UAE's advantage eight minutes before the interval, only for his side to be pegged back once more when Hassan Maatouk equalised in stoppage time.

The second half saw the UAE take control with Ismail Matar and Saeed scoring with long-range strikes.

 

 

Group B

P W D L F A PTS

*South Korea 6 4 1 1 14 4 13

*Lebanon 6 3 1 2 10 14 10

Kuwait 6 2 2 2 8 9 8

United Arab Emirates 6 1 0 5 9 14 3