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Dubai: The UAE Under 16 soccer team made history on Sunday by reaching the 2009 Fifa World Cup finals which will be held in Nigeria.
The youngsters achieved the feat after they beat Australia 3-2 in extra-time in Tashkent on Sunday in the Asian Under 16 championships quarterfinals. The four semifinalist automatically qualify for the World Cup finals.
Yesterday's win over Australia came as a big surprise as the UAE lost their previous two matches in Group D against Yemen (3-0) and Japan (6-1).
But Yemen were prevented from taking their place in the last eight due to fielding an over-aged player in the group stage.
This gave the UAE a lifeline as their only win came when they beat Malaysia 3-2 to finish third in the group from which Yemen and Japan qualified.
UAE coach Ali Ebrahim was delighted his side took ''full advantage of the second chance they were given.''
Last chance
"I told the players that we have got this chance and that it was the last chance we would have to qualify to the World Cup and that we must take advantage of it," he said. "I can say that we were fortunate today as we created a lot of chances and we scored three goals.
"We didn't prepare for the match yesterday because we only knew that we would be playing this morning," he added.
"I came up with a plan for this match just 10 minutes before the game and so the result is unbelievable. "I think the Australian players thought that we were not ready. We asked the players to try and score a quick goal and that's what happened and they showed great commitment."
This is the second time that the UAE Under-16 team have qualified for the World Cup finals. The first time was in Italy 1991.
In the all-important match against Australia the UAE scored their first goal seven minutes in the match through Fahad Salam.
But they then conceded two second-half goals from Ben Kantarovski and Trent Sainsbury which had given Australia the lead.
Regrouping the UAE drew level when Salem struck his second goal of the night just after the 60 minute mark. Abdullah Mohammad claimed a dramatic winner in stoppage time to send UAE through to the semifinals.
This is the second time that the UAE Under-16 team have qualified for the Fifa World Cup finals. The first time was in Italy 1991.
Will the U-16 team be able to continue their top performance during the World Cup? Will qualifying for the World Cup encourage young players to take up the sport? How do you see the qualification affecting football in the UAE?
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