Lima hails UAE's demolition of Qatar as best performance of 2026 qualifiers

(Reuters) - Four-goal striker Fabio Lima said the United Arab Emirates' 5-0 thrashing of Qatar on Tuesday was his team's finest performance in the third phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying.

Brazil-born Lima opened the scoring in the fourth minute in Abu Dhabi, before netting a pair of penalties and a brilliant free kick from distance to consolidate the UAE's hold on third place in Group A.

Iran and Uzbekistan secured wins over Kyrgyzstan and North Korea to maintain their grip on the automatic berths for the 2026 finals, but the UAE kept pace with their stunning victory over the continental champions.

"We played very well, an amazing match," said Lima. "Our team played our best match in this competition today and we should continue at this level.

"If we continue at this level we have a lot of chances to go to the next round."

The UAE have only qualified for the World Cup once before, making their debut at Italy 1990, but with Asia granted a minimum of eight places in the expanded finals in North America they have a better chance of returning to the tournament.

Paulo Bento's team moved onto 10 points with the win over Qatar to stay three behind second-placed Uzbekistan and a further three adrift of leaders Iran.

While the top two finishers advance directly to the World Cup, nations finishing in third and fourth in the six-team group will progress to a further round of qualifying.

"The whole team focused from the first minute to the last minute," said Lima. "I hope we can continue like that.

"We have another difficult match in a few months against Iran but we will celebrate and focus on Iran after."