UAE beats Kuwait to reach final
ABU DHABI (Reuter): Striker Hassan Ahmed headed a second half goal against the run of play to give hosts the United Arab Emirates a 1-0 win over Kuwait yesterday and a berth in the Asian Cup final for the first time.
Ahmed rose unchallanged from six metres out to head home a corner on the right by Mohamed Mohamed for his 69th minute semifinal winner.
His goal sent more than 50,000 home fans, most clad in traditional white robes, into unconfined joy. After the match thousands of locals flocked onto Abu Dhabi's streets dancing and waving UAE flags.
The match was marked by two controversial decisions by Japanese referee Okada Masayoshi, who twice booked UAE players for off-the-ball incidents. Kuwait on both occassions protested the players should be sent off.
In Saturday's final, the UAE play the winner of the second semifinal tie between Saudi Arabia and Iran later on Wednesday.
Kuwait had the better of a scrappy opening, forcing a fine save from UAE keeper Muhsin Fairouz and winning two corners inside four minutes.
They slowly stamped their authority in midfield but could not create a clear-cut scoring chance, while the UAE were confined to counter attacks.
UAE goalkeeper Fairouz kept out Kuwait before halftime with two fine saves from headers.
He first dived to his right to deny Esam Sakeen in the 43rd minute, and a minute later dived at full stretch to his left to fingertip over the bar a header by defender Jamal Abdulrahman that was goal-bound.
UAE captain Adnan Al-Talyani was booked in the 56th minute when he elbowed Abdulrahman in the face as the players waited for a Kuwaiti corner. The Japanese referee, who did not see the incident, produced only the yellow card after consulting his linesman. Television replays showed clearly that Talyani elbowed Abdulrahman.
Kuwait continued to attack early in the second half but their top scorer Jassem Al-Houwaidi was tightly marked and allowed few opportunities.
Teams
UAE: 17-Muhsin Fairouz; 2-Abdel Hussain (5-Yousef Saleh 14); 3-Munther Abdullah; 6-Ismail Ismail; 7-Bakhit Saad; 10-Adnan Al Talyani; 11-Zuhair Bkhait; 12-Hassan Mubarak; 15-Mohamed Mohamed (14-Khamis Saad 86); 16-Hassan Ahmed; 18-Ahmed Ahmed.
Kuwait: 21-Falah Al-Majidi; 2-Osama Abdullah (6-Wail Al- Habshi 59, 19-Hani Al-Saqer 69); 3-Jamal Abdulrahman; 4-Yousif Al-Dakhi; 5-Mohammad Al-Khaledi; 7-Bader Al-Halabeej; 9-Bashar Abdulaziz; 11-Abdullah Seehan; 12-Fawaz Al-Ahmed; 17-Esam Sakeen; 20-Jassem Al-Houwaidi.