Moataz Al Shami (Abu Dhabi)
Our national team was content with one point out of 6 available points in the two Asian qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup this October, after tying with North Korea at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium last Thursday, before losing to Uzbekistan, yesterday, with a clean goal, which was contrary to the scenario of the match that It witnessed a technical advantage for “Al-Abyad” in terms of offensive performance and the ability to reach the goal, but the players were flawed by the recklessness in the final touch and the absence of a top scorer capable of making a difference in light of Caio Canedo’s inability to translate some of the opportunities that arose.
Meanwhile, in the Uzbekistan match, Paulo Pinto relied on the wingers Yahya Al-Ghassani, Tahnoon Al-Zaabi and Marcos Meloni, in addition to the substitute Ali Saleh, but to no avail.
The 66th minute witnessed a turning point that changed the scenario of the match in contrast to the course of its events, when Abdullah Hamad recklessly intervened against the Uzbekistan striker, which prompted the match referee to give him a red card, costing the team a goal that came from a penalty kick a few minutes after the expulsion, after the home owners rushed to exploit the deficiency. The numerical numbers of our team compared to the decline of the players in defense, and thus the Whites lost the match, settling for one point from the two qualifying matches for the month of October.
The loss to Uzbekistan is the first historically for our team at the opponent’s stadium in the World Cup qualifiers in the years 98 and 2002, where the Whites met 4 times previously, winning 3 matches, including two matches in Uzbekistan, while losing only one match, which was in the Emirates.
As was evident from the Whites’ matches against North Korea and Uzbekistan, the absence of a scorer or sniper in the team’s lineup, in addition to the absence of a leader on the field, which prompts Paulo Bento to try to search for solutions before the upcoming gathering next November, which witnesses two very important confrontations, both in our stadium, the first against… Kyrgyzstan will play next November 14 in the fifth round of the qualifiers, and the second will be on the 19th of the same month against Qatar.
Our team needs to come out with a full mark in the next gathering, raising its score to 10 points, ensuring that it continues to compete for a qualifying card for the World Cup, as the White team currently ranks third in its group, after collecting 4 points behind leaders Uzbekistan and runner-up Iran, each with 10 points, superior. Qatar, which is ranked fourth on goal difference.
For his part, Bashir Saeed, a former player for our national team, confirmed that the Whites are now in a difficult situation, and need a miracle to guarantee a qualifying ticket for the World Cup. Despite this, the team still has an available opportunity, but it requires the necessity of winning the two matches next November against Kyrgyzstan and then Qatar, which is considered a difficult requirement. In addition to working to correct the team’s performance and increase harmony and cohesion while providing alternatives capable of making a difference among the team’s ranks, he stressed that winning over Uzbekistan in our stadium next March, in addition to not losing to North Korea and Iran outside our stadium, is a necessary requirement if the team wants to make amends. The points he lost in the first four rounds.
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