UAE 5-0 Qatar Player Ratings: United Arab Emirates showed no mercy in thrashing Asian champions

In the third round of the AFC World Cup Qualifiers, the United Arab Emirates hosted Qatar at home, only to annihilate the AFC Asian Cup holders with a massive 5-0 victory at the Al Nahyan Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

This marked the biggest win for the UAE against Qatar in history, Fabio Lima netted a sensational string of four goals that included, converting two penalties, and scoring a free kick. Later, the 26-year-old Yahya Al Ghassani added the five to seal all three points and gift the visitors their 3rd upset in the Qualification campaign.

Despite being the underdogs in this fixture, the home team made it look like a one-sided clash, while Qatar was unable to get a single shot on target, displaying their poor performance. Presently, after six matches, the Arab Emirates is third in Group A standing with 10 points, and the 2022 World Cup hosts are fourth with 7 points.

Now, let’s glance at how each player performed in the match;

UAE National Football Team Player Ratings vs Qatar

Goalkeeper

Khalid Eisa – 7

He kept a clean sheet and surprisingly faced no shots on goal.

Defenders

Kouame Autonne – 6.5

Overall, he had a decent performance as the centre-back made four clearances at the back.

Khalifa Al Hammadi – 7

Solid performance, halting critical build-up plays coming from Qatar with a timely interception and was active in clearing out the threats.

Khaled Aldhanhani – 7

The Right back was excellent in offensive plays created important chances and even assisted for a goal to claim a big win.

Marcus Meloni – 7

While Aldhanhani adopted an attacking approach on the right, Meloni chose a balanced method to contribute in defence and attack.

Midfielders

Majid Rashid – 6.5

Rashid looked solid in midfield but was taken off during the half-time interval. His substitution became the first change on the UAE side.

Yahia Nader – 7

Al Ain midfielder had 100% accuracy in his passing and did not misplace even a single pass while providing the defensive solidity to the backline.

Fabio Lima – 10

In just 3rd minute, Lima scored with his very first touch, a left-footed finish on the cut-back pass from Al Ghassani and showed his composure from the spot to extend the lead with two penalty goals. However, the best of his mastery arrived when he slashed a spectacular curling free-kick to sketch an incredible hat trick.

Harib Abdalla Suhail – 8

The young winger won the crucial penalty for his side with his busting run inside the box stealing the ball ahead of Lucas Mendes forcing the Qatari defender to commit a late foul. Not only that, he won another foul outside of the box to earn his team’s 3rd goal.

Yahya Al Ghassani – 9

He made a busting run into the box before sending a low cross to Fabio Lima, who scored the opener to give UAE an early head start and similarly won the second penalty. He added a goal to his game, netting the fifth goal of the hosts.

Forwards

Bruno – 6

The marksmen of UAE was brilliant in making timely runs behind the defence or even in between two defenders and also recorded a shot on target.

Substitutes

Isam Faiz – 6.5

Caio Canedo – 7

Tahnoon Al Zaabi – 6

Zayed Sultan – 5.5

MacKenzie Hunt – 6

Manager

Paulo Bento – 9

Bento managed the United Arab Emirates to simply outclass the Asian champions on the field, punishing the lazy defence and high backline punishing them by scoring five goals. UAE exploited every weak link of the Qatari side in the resounding victory and showed significant intent and desire in attacks.

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Qatar National Football Team Player Ratings vs UAE

Goalkeeper

Meshaal Barsham – 4

His decision to go for the ball brought down the UAE winger in the penalty box and eventually conceded the second penalty followed by a fourth goal of the evening. Conceded five goals altogether.

Defenders

Tarek Salman – 5.5

He was outclassed by Yahya Al Ghassani on the left and was incapable of preventing his dangerous runs inside the box.

Boualem Khoukhi – 6

He got booked in the first half due to a poor foul and looked vulnerable in the backline as a result was subbed off at half-time intervals.

Lucas Mendes – 5

The hero from the last match turned into the villain by giving away a poor penalty clipping the UAE winger from behind.

Midfielders

Jassem Gaber – 6.5

The defensive midfielder was good with tackles and also created a single chance.

Ibrahim Al-Hassan – 4.5

The young midfielder was the third player whom Qatari coach Tintin Marquez called back to the bench after a struggling outing in the initial 45 minutes.

Ahmed Fathi – 6

He played the entire 90 minutes of the game, though could not mark any significant impact with his outing.

Mohammed Waad – 6

He was given the start in the starting eleven on the Right flank as wide midfielder but his outing was cut short at half time.

Abdelrahman Fahmi Moustafa – 6

He had no significant contributions playing as a wide midfielder and was also taken off to cater to Mohammed Muntari’s substitution at halftime.

Akfram Afif – 7

One stand out for the visitors, was Afif, who hardly had a dull game for Qatar since the Asian Cup campaign, playing as number ten in a free role and creating three chances for his side amid a disappointing defeat.

Forwards

Almoez Ali – 5

The prolific goal-getter got no service upfront and only managed to take a single attempt on goal that too went wide.

Substitutes

Homam Elamin – 6

Ismael Mohammad – 6

Yusuf Abdurisag – 6

Mohammed Muntari – 6

Abdulaziz Hatem – 6.5

Manager

Tintin Marquez – 6

It was a much-needed reality check for his team after coming from the lucky win over Uzbekistan, as Paulo Bento led UAE did their preparations better and exposed Tintin Marquez’s tactics. Notably, Qatar failed to register a single shot on target despite having some of the finest attackers across Asia such as Akfram Afif and Almoez Ali. Needs to improve from here onwards to compete to fir direct qualification.

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