UAE eyes glory in Asian Cup

UAE hosts Qatar on Tuesday at 2019 AFC Asian Cup semi-finals at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. This is the fifth encounter between both teams in Asian Cup.

UAE hopes to reach the Asian Cup Final for the second time in the history as they appeared in 1996 Asian Cup Final and lost the title at home to Saudi Arabia.

“We are going to face a very strong opponent. They reach the semi-final in a tournament like this; it means they have a lot of strength. It is a very difficult team to defeat.” Qatar national team manager, Felix Sanchez, told press ahead of the game.

Qatar appears at the Asian Cup semi-finals for the first time in the history.

“The performance in the last game was very good. I'm very much aware of the difficulties of the game against Qatar, but I’m confident we will be able to win the game with a very good performance of our players.” UAE manager, Alberto Zaccheroni, told press on Monday.

The winner will face Japan who defeated Iran on Monday 3-0.