Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Dubai: The UAE's hope of reaching the knockout phase of the AFC Futsal Championship at the first time of asking ended on Sunday when the 2012 hosts went down 4-2 to Thailand.
Having lost 3-1 to Kyrgyzstan the UAE went into their final Group A match needing to get a positive result against the Thais and hope that Central Asians would lose against a Turkmenistan side that were already out of the reckoning following defeats to both the UAE (3-1) and Thailand (5-1)
The UAE got off to the perfect start in Sunday's showdown at the Al Wasl Indoor Stadium as Wael Mohamed squared the ball across the court to Abdulkarim Jamil who made no mistake in dispatching it past Thai skipper Surapong Tompa with just under a minute played.
But the UAE's advantage would last just three minutes with Apiwat Chaemcharoen passing the ball to Nattavut Madyalan, who back-heeled it to Apiwat and he confidently shot Thailand back on to level terms.
The Thais took a tenth minute lead when Jirawat Sornwichian fired home the rebound after Jabir Mohamed had saved Suphawat Thueanklang's initial shot before Thailand went 3-1 with three minutes of the half remaining.
A long ball forward which was headed clear by keeper Surapong found its way to Suphawat who slipped the ball into the path of Kritsada Wongkaeo and after the GH Bank RBAC attacker had skilfully made space for the shot, he fired Thailand's third past Jabir in the UAE goal.
The prospect of missing out on the quarter-finals began to tell on the UAE and their head coach Padu (Paulo Eduardo De Jesus Pinho) was sent to the stands for protesting too strongly with Jordanian referee Husein Mahmoud.
And things got worse for the UAE when Suphawat hit the target from just inside the left sideline for Thailand's fourth goal in the 32nd minute before Abdulkarim Jamil scored his second of the night in the dying seconds, which proved to a mere consolation as the UAE's first appearance at the AFC Futsal Championship finals ended at the group stage after a debut they can be proud of.