Only hours before kick-off, Yemen, who had topped group D, were disqualified from the tournament for fielding an overage player. The decision meant that instead of facing Japan the Joeys had to face the United Arab Emirates, in their quarter final match.

With the scores locked at 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes, and the match looking destined to go to extra time, Abdulla Mohammad’s scored for the UAE in the first minute of injury time to give his team the victory.

The UAE took the lead after seven minutes when a cross found Fahad Salam unmarked who made no mistake from close range to beat Joeys goalkeeper Robert Kolac.

The Joeys had a number of opportunities to equalise in the first half, but were denied by saves from the UAE goalkeeper Eesa Abbas and the cross-bar on one occasion.

Ben Kantarovski equalised for the Joeys early in the second half finishing off a cross from Marc Warren.

And Trent Sainsbury gave the Joeys the lead in the 57th minute when he capitalised on a Brendan Hamill flick on from a Jared Lum free kick.

Fahad Salem notched his second goal of the game in the 64th minute to level the scores when the Joeys failed to clear the ball from inside the box.

Then in the first minute of injury time, UAE striker Abdulla Mohammad headed home the winner after Ahmed Al Balooshi hit the bar following a Fahed Salem free-kick.

After the match, coach Martyn Crook was obviously disappointed with the result.

"We had plenty of opportunities in the first-half and we should have scored them so we got punished for that," he said.

"After we took a 2-1 lead we had a chance to score a third goal from a one-on-one situation but we didn't. We were punished quickly for that as UAE leveled the scores."

He added: "UAE played well although the last two days were hard for them.

"Their players showed a great fighting spirit and they were really good on the break with quick counter-attacks.

"We were really vulnerable from crosses. The crosses have cost us the match and UAE players took full advantage from these mistakes,” concluded Crook.


Match Details:
Qantas Joeys 2 (Ben Kantarovski 48’, Trent Sainsbury 57’)
United Arab Emirates 3 (Fahad Salim 7’/64’, Abdulla Muhammad 90+1’)
Sunday 12 October 2008
MHSK Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Referee: Minoru Tojo (Japan)
Assistant Referees: Yosef Mirza Rustom (Saudi Arabia) & Manh Long Pham (Vietnam)
Fourth Official: Mukthar Al Yarimi (Yemen)
Crowd: 500

Qantas Joeys line-up: Robert Kolac (gk), Chahine Noujaim, Marc Warren, Brendan Hamill (C), Jared Lum, Ben Kantarovski, Nikola Stanojevic, Kamal Ibrahim, Chris Bush, Trent Sainsbury, Stephen Domenici (Danai Gapare 83’).

Substitutes Not Used: Zac Tubbs (gk), Nathan Farrell, Teddy Yabio, Colin Wright, Cameron Edwards, Aaron Lennox (gk), Mark Perrone, Dimitrios Petratos.

Yellows Cards: Nil

Red Cards: Nil