The UAE national team turned the tables on its Qatari counterpart after turning a one-goal deficit in the first half into a three-goal victory in the match that took place between the two teams at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha, as part of the first round matches of the Qualifying To the 2026 World Cup held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
game Qatar national team With several plans in today’s match between 3/5/1/1 and 4/1/4/1 with clear flexibility for more than one player in positioning according to the course of the game, whether in a defensive or offensive position.
The plan changer repays his coach
But the one who played the most role in constantly changing those plans was Al-Annabi midfielder Ibrahim Al-Hassan, that young man who had not yet completed his nineteenth year and whose coach gave him the opportunity to repay him by scoring a beautiful goal.
Al Hassan’s forward movement surprised the guests more than once, and his exploitation of the empty spaces resulting from the lack of good marking by the Emiratis was an opportunity to show his abilities, which he succeeded in translating into a beautiful goal after he slipped into the penalty area to open the score for the home team.
Other than that, the most dangerous aspect of the Qatari team, which dominated the first half, was the crosses, whether from set pieces or moving balls, and from one of them, Jassim Jaber almost scored the opening goal thanks to a wonderful cross from Akram Afif.
Basic instinct drove the game.
There are several things that drive a person, and many may differ from the basic instinct that drives him, but none of this is meaningful without not fulfilling the main basic instinct, which is fear. You can do almost nothing while you are afraid.
Basic instinct is what basically drove this match. The Emirates clearly feared losing in the first half and defended most of the time, forgetting about anything else but retreating to defend their goal with an individual attempt from Yahya Al Ghassani on the left side.
When Qatar took the lead and ended the first half in their favour, it seemed that the same instinct had clearly affected Al-Annabi, as their players retreated in defence of their lead, and we saw a completely different match than the one that was being played, in which everyone felt that Qatar was heading towards an easy victory.
The Emirates were able to know where to get the better of them. It is true that Qatar’s 3/5/1/1 plan seems to be dense in numbers in the back lines, but more than one position had problems, to find Emiratis Their goal was a clash that occurred between Lucas Mendes and Mohammed Waad, which Harb Abdullah exploited with great skill after he prepared the ball beautifully and shot it even more beautifully, scoring the equaliser, which the match director hinted started with an offside that VAR ignored.
The second part was clearly due to the weakness of Qatar’s midfield. In more than one shot, the UAE team was passing easily in the heart of the field without much harassment from the Al Annabi players, before this effect increased strongly in the shot of the second goal, in which Khalid Al Dhanhani received the ball deep in the Qatari midfield, who failed to quickly rebound to score the second goal.
Controversial decision before UAE’s third goal
The excitement started with the equaliser by the UAE team, which made Qatar throw off its guard, but the biggest excitement came after the second goal by the guests, which turned it into a faster and more daring match, until the match reached its climax in a scene in which the Australian referee awarded a penalty kick in Qatar’s favour.
The VAR sent the referee back to review the ball, in which the Emiratis complained about the possibility of a foul in their favour, while the referee paid more attention to the penalty shot itself, in which the ball touched Yahya Nader’s hand. However, the referee agreed with the VAR that the supporting hand was the one that touched the ball, while it seemed that Nader’s supporting hand had lost its character as a supporting hand after Nader lifted it from the ground and moved it towards the ball, even if it was unintentional. It is not true that the match referee counted the foul that preceded it, because he indicated dropping the ball and not counting a free kick for the guests.
The Qataris lost sight of the goal after that and created almost no danger, but the Emiratis managed to score the third goal after an excellent interception of the ball in the middle of the Al-Annabi field, with Ali Saleh putting the final touch with a wonderful goal after he shot with his left foot into the closed corner, to bring down the UAE national team, the Asian champions, on their home ground, which makes Al-Annabi required to compensate in the coming journey.
