UAE beat Syria in Fifa Arab Cup opener

The Fifa Arab Cup sees 16 teams from across the Arab world come together to compete.

By Team KT

Published: Wed 1 Dec 2021, 1:22 PM

After a spectacular opening ceremony in Doha, the UAE opened their Fifa Arab Cup campaign with an impressive 2-1 victory over Syria.

The victory put Bert van Marwijk’s team in second place in the Group B standings behind Tunisia, who recorded a thumping 5-1 victory over Mauritania.

Qatar is hosting the 16-team Fifa Arab Cup (November 30-December 18) as prelude to next year’s Fifa World Cup.

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Earlier on Tuesday, hosts Qatar kicked off their tournament with a narrow 1-0 win over Bahrain in Group A.

Iraq, on the other hand, had to share points with Oman after a 1-1 draw in the other Group A game of the opening day.

The UAE dominated possession from the start of the match and held on to win 2-1 against Syria.

Caio Canedo finished off a series of quick passes and deftly headed a cross into the corner past Syrian keeper Ibrahim Alma in the 24th minute for UAE’s opener.

Ali Saleh then struck a first-timer six minutes later into the bottom of the right corner to double UAE’s advantage.

Syria came close to scoring when Mohammed Osman hit the ball with strength from distance, forcing UAE keeper Ali Khasif to lunge and punch it just over the crossbar.

In the 60th minute, Syria broke through after a poor back pass by Canedo found its way to Ward Al Salama, who booted a strike past a helpless Khasif.

The goal inspired the Syrian side that took command of play — until the 79th minute when UAE’s Tahnoon Al Zaabi hammered the ball off the post.

In the dying seconds, Syria’s Mohammad Al Hallak belted a chance that easily could have tied the match, but Khasif was equal to the task and preserved UAE’s win.

UAE will face Mauritinia in their next game on Friday. (with inputs from afc.com)