UAE move on to Beach Soccer World Cup finals in Tahiti

UAE survive a late scare against Australia to book their place in Tahiti for the Beach Soccer World Cup finals. Audio interview

UAE players celebrate as Australia players look for the referee to argue that their goal beat the final whistle. The result would stand in the UAE's favour.

The National staff

Jan 26, 2013

The UAE survived a late scare in Doha last night to book their place at the Beach Soccer World Cup finals at Australia's expense.

The winners of the third-place play-off would join Japan and Iran at the finals and the Emirati side looked to have done enough to secure their ticket to Tahiti in September as two quick strikes by Ali Karim Albalooshi and Walid Mohammed gave them an early advantage.

However, the Australians struck back in the second period as two goals by Michael Matricciani levelled matters before the UAE went back ahead as Albalooshi scored his second.

There was some late drama as Australia thought they had equalised again in the very last second of the match, only for the referee to disallow the goal as he had already blown for full time.

Listen to UAE coach Marcelo Mendes on the victory on our player below:

[ @SprtNationalUAE ]