Daei satisfied despite Dubai draw

AFC -  Iran coach Ali Daei saluted his side after they earned a point from a battling 1-1 draw against last-placed United Arab Emirates in a Group B clash on Wednesday.

UAE took the lead through captain Abdulraheem Jumaa and dominated proceedings, creating numerous chances only to be denied by goalkeeper Seyed Mehdi Rahmati.

The Iranians took full advantage of Rahmati’s heroics with Karim Bagheri equalising in the 81st minute to give the visitors a share of the points.

The draw takes Iran’s tally in their World Cup qualifying group to five points, two behind leaders Korea Republic after their 2-0 win in Saudi Arabia.

“This is the best I have seen UAE play for a long time,” said Daei.

“Many other teams would have lost to the UAE tonight. So I am proud of my team and the way they fought to get a point.

“We started very badly and played a poor first half. It is the worst I have seen this team play. We gifted the ball to them.

“In the second half, we were a lot better and created plenty of chances. We put pressure on them and eventually got the equaliser.

“But I was not happy with the refereeing. We were denied two clear penalties.”

The draw leaves UAE with just one point from four games in the final round of Asian qualifying and with virtually no hope of clinching one of the two direct berths to South Africa from Group B.

“We still have a chance mathematically,” said coach Dominique Bathenay. “But we don’t really have much hope now.

“This match was our last chance and we gave it our best, but unfortunately it was not good enough.

“We created a number of chances, but could not convert them and that proved costly in the final analysis.”