Daboub, Costa hail players after entertaining draw

Palestine head coach Makram Daboub hailed a ‘near perfect’ performance from his players who picked up their first point of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 Group C in a 1-1 draw against the UAE at Al Janoub Stadium on Thursday.
In a thrilling game under the rain, Palestine dominated from start to finish, ending the match with 65% of ball possession, 24 shots compared to the UAE’s five and a tournament-record 16 corners to only one for their opponents, but were only able to find the back of the net once thanks to an own goal by UAE defender Bader Nasser.
“It was a difficult game, I thought we did everything right but lacked the cutting edge in front of goal,” said Daboub.
“Based on our performances in the qualifiers and friendlies, this is the level of performance I expected from my players. The first game against Iran was a bit of a shock because the players were too excited and driven, so we allowed an early goal. Today the only thing we lacked was finishing, but hopefully we will have that in the next match.
“In the qualifiers we didn’t have many attacking players, but now we have more attacking players and a shortage of central midfielders, so we had to change our formation. In friendlies, we tried to find a system that serves as against the type of opponents we expected to face at the AFC Asian Cup. But ultimately, no matter what formation we play, the most important thing is to find a system in which the players are comfortable.”
Palestine found themselves behind after 23 minutes when Sultan Adil headed home for the UAE, but they soon recovered and had a golden chance to equalise before the break when Oday Dabbagh was brought down inside the box, but Tamer Seyam missed the resulting penalty which was saved by goalkeeper Khaled Eisa.
Striker Oday Dabbagh, the team’s talisman who plies his trade at Portuguese side Arouca was a constant threat to the UAE defence, but was unable to cap off his exceptional performance with a goal. “It could be that the pressure got to the player, but penalties are also a bit about luck. A player could choose a direction and the goalkeeper dives the same way. We were unfortunate in being unable to convert our chances, but hopefully the game against Hong Kong will be our date with joy for us and for the Palestinian people.”
“Seyam was the first choice to take the penalty because he was in good form. He missed the penalty, but he played very well overall and it was his cross that resulted in the own goal which helped us get the point.”
“Oday is an excellent player with plenty of good qualities. Every striker goes through periods where everything goes his way and others where luck is not on his side. The lack of match fitness had an impact on all of the players, but as long as we are creating chances, the goals will come.”
“I would like to thank the fans for the great support in every game. We are still masters of our own destiny, I think if we win, we will have a great chance of advancing to the next round,” said Daboub.
The UAE saw defender Khalifa al-Hammadi sent-off for the foul which also resulted in the penalty, while they also conceded an own goal when Nasser headed Seyam’s cross from the left into his own net, and the unfortunate night for the Whites was rounded-off by the sending off of head coach Paulo Bento deep into added time.
Having beaten Hong Kong, China 3-1 in their opening match, the UAE remain unbeaten and could well find themselves in the round of 16 come the final whistle of their last game of the group against Iran.
“There was one defining moment in this game,” said UAE assistant coach Sergio Costa.
“The sending off changed everything; we were in control, but after going down to 10 men, the game changed completely, but still through their game they reached in our area through a lot of crosses. We felt some difficulties, but our players were heroes. The sacrifices that we made were worthy of respect. With 11 players or with ten, they all did a great job.
“It was a very emotional game with a lot of factors that influenced the course of the match. We are human beings and we react to situations with emotions sometimes.”
“We will go step by step. The next match against Iran we will prepare very well, and we will have no doubts. We want the best possible result, which is to win. There are too many possible results that can happen and influence who we would face in the next round if we qualify, so it is useless to talk about it now.”