Saudi clash is make or break time

ABU DHABI // The UAE coach Bruno Metsu is hopeful his team will bounce back after a painful home defeat in their opening World Cup qualifying match against North Korea on Saturday. The Emirates lost 2-1 despite having every chance of collecting three points on an energy- sapping night at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.

The Koreans played a waiting game as the UAE mounted attack after attack, and the visitors' negative yet effective defensive gameplan bore fruit as the game wore on. The visitors made Metsu's men do all the hard work until they had run out of energy and ideas. They then countered with attacks of their own, while UAE only had themselves to blame for failing to open the scoring from one of the early chances they created.

"I am very disappointed at the result," said Metsu, whose team controlled possession for more than 70 minutes "We created several chances but wasted all of them. We were the better team and the great story is we didn't win." It was an own goal from Basheer Saeed that gave the visitors the lead. The Al Wahda defender, trying to clear a close-range shot from Choe Kum Chol, saw the ball crash into him and then into the goal.

Korea doubled the lead in the 80th minute through a superb effort from substitute An Chol Hyok, who fired home from the edge of the box. Saeed scored at the right end six minutes later to keep the Emirates in the game, but they failed to score an equaliser despite nine minutes of added time. Most of these came after home fans threw water cartons onto the pitch following Korea's second goal. Metsu remained pragmatic and was already looking ahead to Wednesday's game with Saudi Arabia, which will take place at the same venue. But he was also keen to state the importance of the match.

He said: "It is a game we must win game. These things happen in football. You struggle to score and eventually the pressure gets to you. A goal early in the match when we attacking for an entire half would have made all the difference. But it didn't, and now we have to recover from this loss by trying to win full points from the next game." The Saudis were denied a win in their opening match on Saturday after a late strike from Jawad Nikounam salvaged a 1-1 draw for Iran in Riyadh.

"I am, as always, hopeful of a good result and we have three days to regroup and recoup the loss we suffered. The Korea game is not the end. We still have seven matches," concluded Metsu. The crowd was disappointing despite a plea from the French coach and his players. The 15,000 capacity stadium was not even half full. The couple of thousand Koreans were better represented and more eye-catching than the home fans.

The Korean coach Kim Jong-Hun said: "Our intentions were not to lose, but the opportunities came away and we are happy to go back with three points. " North Korea face South Korea on Wednesday in Shanghai. apassela@thenational.ae Match report: s2-3