UAE admits playing unfairly when winning against Vietnam
Coach Skorza Maciej said that Vietnam is very strong so he had to choose a pragmatic style of play in the bronze medal match on the afternoon of September 1.
"Vietnam is a strong team, one of the top teams in Asia right now, like Japan or South Korea. So we have to fight hard. Maybe, today UAE did not play well, but the important thing is to win," coach Skorza Maciej shared.
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UAE beat Vietnam 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.Photo: Duc Dong. |
UAE had to retreat to defend right after the opening whistle. However, when they were under pressure, this team unexpectedly scored a goal. Starting from a poor pass back from Van Thanh, Alhashmi dribbled the ball straight into the 16m50 box and finished low, defeating goalkeeper Tien Dung in the 17th minute.
It took Vietnam only 10 minutes to find the equalizer thanks to Van Quyet. During the remaining time, Coach Park Hang-seo's team completely dominated the game, creating many opportunities but could not score more goals.
Tied 1-1 after two halves, Vietnam and UAE entered a penalty shootout to decide the winner. Quang Hai and Minh Vuong failed to score while all four opposing players defeated Tien Dung. Vietnam missed the chance to win a medal at the Asian Games for the first time in history.
“I reaffirm that Vietnam is one of the top teams in Asia. Today, they played better and created more chances than us. I am really happy that our team won,” said coach Skorza Maciej.
On their way to winning the bronze medal, the UAE had three penalty shootout victories against Indonesia, North Korea and Vietnam. In the group stage, they only beat Timor Leste and advanced as one of the four third-placed teams with good records. However, when an Indonesian reporter said that the UAE won the bronze medal by luck, coach Skorza Maciej strongly objected. The Polish coach said: "I do not agree with this point of view. In football, there are many ways to win. My players fought and deservedly won the medal."
