Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sydney: The fear of letting his team-mates down inspired defender Ismail Ahmed to hold his nerve to net the winning penalty on Friday to send the United Arab Emirates into the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years after edging out defending champions Japan at Stadium Australia.
By the time Al Ain’s Ahmed - who was nominated for last year’s AFC Player of the Year Award - was introduced with 14 minutes remaining of the final quarter-final tie, the UAE had already been leading for nearly 70 minutes following Ali Mabkhout’s seventh minute strike.
Ahmed’s introduction, as well as the withdrawal of striker Ahmed Khalil before the hour mark, were all moves by coach Mahdi Ali to protect the slender advantage against the four-times winners, as the UAE sought to secure a return to the semi-finals for the first time since reaching the 1996 final.
And despite Japan substitute Gaku Shibasaki sending the game to extra-time and ultimately penalties after equalising with nine minutes of normal time remaining, the UAE eventually prevailed 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw to earn a meeting with hosts Australia in Tuesday’s semi-final in Newcastle.
“I was on the field like the other players and I took the penalty. I concentrated for that goal and you want to score as you don’t want to let your players down as they gave everything on the field,” said 31-year-old Ahmed after making his second substitute appearance of the tournament.
“I am very happy like all the players. This game was very important, but now we will forget about this game and concentrate on the game against Australia as this will not be easy, but we will give everything.
“We have beaten the defending champions and it has given us a lot of confidence.”
Mabkhout’s early strike was the Al Jazira strikers fourth of the campaign to pull the 24-year-old level at the top of the goalscoring charts with Jordan’s Hamza Al Dardour.
And Mabkhout will look to continue his run of form at Newcastle Stadium on Tuesday, with hosts Australia and Iraq set to meet in the other semi-final on Monday in Sydney.
“I think it is my best goal. We know the Australia team very well and know they are very strong and we know they are the best team in Asia along with Japan, but we will try and play our game and hope we can win,” said Mabkhout, who scored twice against Qatar and once against Bahrain in the group stage as the UAE finished second in Group C behind Iran, who lost on penalties to Iraq earlier on Friday.
“There are still three teams left and they are strong. We have a good game and good players and in this game there will be a lot of pressure for us to have a good game.”
Photo: WSG