UAE Coach Zlatko Dalic Confident of Stronger Showing Against Saudi Arabia in Gulf Cup Final

A lone strike by Ousmane Camara was enough to send the UAE through to the Arabian Gulf Cup final after they defeated Oman. The national team will face Saudi Arabia in front of a likely capacity crowd of 60,000 in Jeddah on Tuesday night.

The UAE were comfortably the better side in their semi-final against Oman, but they made hard work of securing victory, with Nicolas Gimenez seeing a second-half penalty saved.

“We did not play our best match and missed some chances, particularly the penalty, but the most important thing for us is qualifying for the final,” said UAE coach Zlatko Dalic. “The match did not go as I expected, but my team and my players secured the win, and that is what matters most. I believe we can perform better, improve our style of play and create more chances. Our performance in the final will be better.”

The two teams should have been familiar with each other. Towards the end of last year, the UAE had beaten Oman to take themselves to the brink of World Cup qualification, at a tempestuous play-off in Doha. In the 11 months since then, though, much has changed. Carlos Queiroz, the former Real Madrid boss who was in charge of Oman back then, has since left and coached Ghana at the World Cup. And the UAE side have an altogether new identity, with their new coach Zlatko Dalic having also been at the World Cup with Croatia.

Only five players remained in the UAE line-up for that game against Oman in Qatar. Among the new additions, Guilherme Bala made his first start for the national team. The Shabab Al Ahli winger had impressed in his two cameo appearances as a substitute so far in the Arab Cup, and Zlatko Dalic unleashed him from the start with a place in the final on the line.

It was two of the other new recruits who combined to give the UAE the lead midway through the first half. Mamadou Coulibaly, the Al Jazira midfielder, curled in a cross from the left, which Ousmane Camara rose to head into the net. Oman nearly levelled straight away, but Lucas Pimenta blocked Amjad Al Harthi’s shot on the line.

Other than that scare, the UAE looked comfortable against opponents who were 15 places below them in the Fifa rankings. However, they fell short of the standards they set at the start of the group stage when they secured wins against Yemen and Bahrain. This time, they were imprecise and failed to put the game beyond reach, with Guilherme Bala hitting the side netting early in the second half and Nicolas Gimenez having his penalty saved by Ibrahim Al Mukhaini.

Despite these missed opportunities, the UAE muddled through to set up a showdown for their third Gulf Cup title against Saudi Arabia. The tournament hosts booked their place in the final after defeating Qatar 3-2 on penalties following a goalless draw after extra time. Saudi Arabia held their nerve with conversions from Abdullah Al Hamdan, Mohamed Kanno, and Mukhtar Ali to secure the victory.