Doha: Giancarlo Gallifuoco scored an 85th minute own goal as the United Arab Emirates snatched a 1-0 win over Australia in Group D of the AFC U23 Championship yesterday at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
Following a contest of few chances, Gallifuoco inadvertently diverted the ball into his own net while under pressure from Abdalla Ghanim after Australia had failed to fully clear a corner.
And after Jordan earlier recorded a 3-1 win over Vietnam, the UAE find themselves at the top of Group D ahead of Sunday’s meeting between the pair, while Australia face Vietnam.
Australia edged possession in the final third at the start of a scrappy contest, but the Olyroos struggled for quality at the crucial moment.
And it was the UAE who enjoyed two chances at the end of the first half as only a late covering challenge from Alex Gersbach halted a promising run from Abdalla Ghanim before Sultan Saif warmed the gloves of Australia goalkeeper Jack Duncan with a shot from just outside the penalty area five minutes before half-time.
The contest was far more open at the start of the second half, and after the UAE wasted several promising build-ups, Australia should have opened the scoring two minutes before the hour mark only for Connor Pain to scuff his effort across the face of goal from inside the area.
The UAE did manage to force the ball across the line as Australia goalkeeper Duncan fumbled a header from Yousif Saeed, but thankfully for the Olyroos, the assistant referee’s flag cut short any celebrations.
Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar was first to look to the substitutes bench with Mustafa Amini replacing Steven Ugarkovic in midfield in the 64th minute before attacking duo Ambar and Ahmed Al Hashmi were introduced by UAE counterpart Abdullah Misfir.
And it was Ambar who almost broke the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining as Australia goalkeeper Duncan was at full stretch to push a swerving 25 yard strike from the substitute around the post.
But Duncan was beaten with five minutes remaining when, after Australia struggled to fully clear a corner, Gallifuoco’s attempted clearance from inside his own six yard area gave the Olyroos custodian little chance.
Elsewhere, Jordan kicked off their campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win over Vietnam, with Baha Faisal claiming a brace as Jamal Ahmad’s side cruised to victory.
Faisal opened the scoring six minutes from the end of a first half in which the Vietnamese frustrated their opponents before a long range strike from Omar Maanasrah and a diving header from Faisal secured all three points for the west Asians before Do Duy Manh claimed a late consolation.
“All opening matches are going to be tough, especially when you play against an unknown team,” said Ahmad.
“Vietnam are a good team because they are among the 16 teams who have qualified for this tournament and it took some time to know how they play and to control the game and to know their positives and negatives.
“It took us a while to score, but in the second half we were better although we had some mistakes in the defence but we will work on those to make sure we don’t have them in the next games.”
“Jordan were stronger than us, as we see with the result,” said Vietnam coach Toshiya Miura.
“They were very strong in duels and they have very good strikers.
“We had some difficulties. We kept good discipline and did a good defending job until it was 0-1, but in second half we took risks and then they scored second and third goal and the game was decided.”
Neither side impressed in the opening 30 minutes and it was not until nine minutes before the break that the Jordanians fashioned out the first real opening of the game when Ehsan Haddad crossed from the left, only for Faisal to miscue his header well wide of the target.
Three minutes later, however, Jordan took the lead as Ahmad Hisam’s pass split the Vietnamese defence, leaving Faisal with the task of rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into the unguarded net.
The Peninsula
