UAE set up a Gulf Cup final with Saudi Arabia

Ousmane Camara scored with most of the evening still ahead of him, leaving the UAE a lead they would have to protect for more than an hour. They managed it, beating Oman 1 to 0 in Jeddah on Saturday to reach the Gulf Cup final. After the comfortable victories that opened their tournament, this was a longer wait for reassurance, with the value of Camara’s 22nd minute goal only fully settled at the final whistle.

The reward is a meeting with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, October 6, at Alinma Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City. The hosts had needed a penalty shootout to get past Qatar earlier on Saturday, winning it 3 to 2 after neither side scored in normal or extra time. The UAE will be seeking their third Gulf Cup title against a Saudi team pursuing its fourth, giving Jeddah a final between two sides still unbeaten in the competition.

For Zlatko Dalić, it is a promising beginning to competitive football with the UAE. His competitive debut came in the opening 4 to 0 victory over Yemen on September 24; four matches into the campaign, his team have scored nine goals and conceded one. Those figures offer plenty of encouragement, although the semi final also brought a useful reminder that the later stages can demand a different kind of patience from the opening group games.

Oman kept looking for an equaliser during the second half at Prince Abdullah bin Faisal Sports City. The UAE had no second goal to make that pursuit less threatening, so every remaining passage of play carried the possibility of changing the evening. Keeping the lead intact was the important achievement. It gave Dalić another clean sheet, the team’s third of the tournament, in a match where there was little margin for a lapse.

Camara had already helped put the UAE in control of an earlier game, opening the scoring after 30 minutes against Bahrain. On that occasion, Guilherme Bala added the second in the 66th minute and Ali Saleh completed a 3 to 0 win near the end. Against Oman, the goal had to stand on its own. The same player had supplied the breakthrough, but this time the rest of the team had to make a much narrower advantage last.

There is still something reassuring for Dalić in the spread of scorers across the campaign. Nicolas Gimenez scored twice against Yemen, with Luan Pereira also on target and an own goal accounting for the other. Camara, Bala and Saleh then scored against Bahrain. The UAE have been able to find goals from several players, leaving the coach with more to build on than the form of a single forward as he prepares for the final.

Saleh’s contribution against Qatar carried a different value. Almoez Ali had put Qatar ahead in the 33rd minute of their last group match, before Saleh equalised before the break. The 1 to 1 draw kept the UAE top of Group B with seven points. Alongside the larger wins and Saturday’s narrow one, it means they have also had to recover from going behind, an experience that may prove useful if the final begins less favourably.

Saudi Arabia have not yet had to answer that particular question. They beat Kuwait 1 to 0, Oman 3 to 0 and Iraq 2 to 0 in the group, then kept Qatar out through 120 minutes of the semi final. Across four matches, they have scored six goals without conceding. The shootout settled who advanced on Saturday, but it did not alter a defensive record that will be central to the UAE’s preparation.

That record gives the hosts reason to approach Tuesday with confidence, while the Qatar match also leaves them something to work on. For the first time in this tournament, they reached the end of a game without scoring. A clean sheet had been enough to support every group win. Against Qatar, it kept their chance alive until the shootout, even as the attack went without the goal that could have settled the match sooner.

The UAE can take encouragement from having scored in all four of their matches, though breaking down Saudi Arabia will be a fresh test. Camara’s goal has given Dalić a final to prepare for, rather than a guarantee that the same route will work again. With so few goals conceded by either finalist, the quality of an opening and the ability to use it may carry particular weight, especially if the score remains level deep into the game.

The interval between Saturday and Tuesday also gives both teams a short period to recover and make their choices. Saudi Arabia played an additional half hour against Qatar, while the UAE finished their work inside normal time. That is a difference in workload for the coaches to consider rather than a reason to assume one team will be fresher. Fitness and the demands placed on individual players will matter more than the calendar alone.

The UAE last won this competition in 2013, adding to their first title in 2007. A third success would give Dalić an early achievement to build around and turn an encouraging opening to his tenure into something tangible for his players. They have earned that opportunity by scoring freely when the group games allowed it, recovering when Qatar went ahead and protecting their lead with only one goal to spare against Oman.

Tuesday will ask them to put those experiences together against the hosts. There is good reason for the UAE to believe they can finish the tournament well, but Saudi Arabia’s unbroken sequence of clean sheets gives the final a clear challenge. Camara supplied the goal that brought them this far. The next one they need would be the first anybody has managed against Saudi Arabia in this tournament.