AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023/ UAE Assistant Coach: We Did Not Perform Well Against Iran

Doha, January 23 (QNA) - Assistant coach of the UAE national team, Portuguese Sergio Costa, confirmed that his players did not perform well against Iran Tuesday, in the final round of Group C of the Asian Cup Qatar 2023. Costa said in the post-match press conference that his players played the match with a specific strategy that secured their promotion to the round of 16 while taking into consideration the result of the game between Palestine and Hong Kong. He added that the win of Iran against the UAE 2-1 is reasonable, given that the players did not perform well because they did not execute the coach's plan exactly and there were some errors. He noted that Iran is one of the strongest teams on the Asian Continent and it is difficult to face it, adding that the UAE played better in the second half and wasting the penalty led to this result. Costa considered that the teams of Qatar, the host country, South Korea, Japan, Iran, and Australia are the most likely to win the continental title, pointing to the strength of the tournament in light of the presence of more than one surprise and the absence of easy groups, as well as the emergence of strong teams, which will be in favor of the tournament and the evolution of Asian Football. (QNA)