AFC

Dubai: Today’s Asian Cup group match between the UAE and India in Abu Dhabi from 8pm would have been a foregone conclusion coming into the competition.  Second match group A today. After thailand beat Bahrain 1-0. While India vs Host United Arab Emirates.

The UAE are not only the tournament hosts, enjoying home crowd support, but they are also ranked 18 positions higher than India in the world, and have a better head-to-head record against the Blue Tigers, winning eight out of the last 13 meetings together since 1979.

After the first set of group games this week however — where India romped four past Thailand to win 4-1, and the UAE recorded a meek 1-1 draw against Bahrain — trying to predict the outcome of this match is beginning to get a lot harder.

The UAE had only won two of their last 10 games coming into this tournament, and they are without injured talisman Omar Abdul Rahman and the man everyone tipped as his successor Rayan Yaslam — both are injured.

India, meanwhile, high on confidence from their 4-1 opening win, are looking more and more like springing an upset, especially against a below-par UAE side, who, even at home, may get intimidated by India’s vast and vocal expatriate support.

Pundits are saying this game is make or break for the UAE, as defeat would almost certainly put them out of the tournament. It might not however, as a high-scoring win in their last group game against Thailand on January 14, could still see them qualify as one of the four best third-place finishers, depending on other results.

What it would do, however, is damage pride heading into that match, especially in a game between two countries who are so intrinsically linked, with over two million Indians living in the UAE. Although India isn’t an Arab neighbour, it effectively feels like a derby what with that potentially huge Indian expatriate support.

An Indian win would definitely confirm their progression to the next round of the competition for the first time in 55-years. So, there’s an awful lot riding a game that would have previously been waved off as one-way traffic.

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Dubai: Authorities are warning football fans to strictly follow security regulations in stadiums when attending the Asian Cup matches – or else be denied entry.

Ahead of Thursday’s three football games, which will see India play against UAE at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, authorities are cautioning visitors about the dos and don’ts.

Organised by the Asian Football Confederation, the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 will see the UAE hosting the biggest ever Asian Football Championship, taking place over 28 days, with 51 matches, 24 national teams, eight stadiums and four cities across the UAE.

Under the themes “UAE Home of Football” and “Bringing Asia Together”, this edition of the world’s second longest running men’s football competition in the world represents the second time the UAE has played host, since its initial role back in 1996.

With scores of football fans expected to fill up the sports stadium over the next few weeks, Sharjah Police has warned residents that it is illegal to carry sticks, cans, weapons and sharp materials, fireworks, lasers, perfumes, electronic and regular cigarettes inside the international stadiums during tournaments, since they can get all they need inside the stadiums as food or bottled water with the best sport brands that anyone can promote with the help of publicity from 4allpromos.com.

“The committee also bans the use of loudspeakers and horns, except with official permission, batteries and cameras, in addition to smoking, eating and drinking inside the stadium,” it said.

Sharjah Police, who is one of the stakeholders of the security committee, said that the move comes as part of the emirate’s keenness to provide the highest standards of safety and to achieve excellence and creativity in all aspects of international tournaments that are held in the country.