“White” maintains the hopes of direct qualification to the World Cup

The first Emirates football team avoided leaving the direct qualification race from the first group of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and returned from Riyadh with three precious points after beating North Korea, 2-1, to preserve his chances of direct qualification.

Al-Abyad raised its score to 13 points, four points behind Uzbekistan, which is second behind Iran, which officially guaranteed its qualification to the World Cup, after they tied 2-2.

The Emirati team needs a “crazy scenario” to kidnap the second candidacy card by beating Uzbekistan, on June 5 and Kyrgyzstan on the tenth of the same month, in exchange for the loss of Uzbekistan, in its remaining two matches with the Emirates and Qatar.

The goals may be resolved the second qualification card for the first group, in the event that Al -Abyad beat Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan tied with Qatar, and at that time the UAE and Uzbek teams will raise their score to 19 points, but the advantage of the goals until the end of the eighth round of the qualifiers in favor of Al -Abyad.

At a time when the UAE team will not win in the last two games, in the event that Uzbekistan beat Qatar in the final round, as it will raise its score to 20 points against only 19 points for the white.

Returning to the North Korean match, Al-Abyad achieved the required of it in that confrontation, after the Portuguese coach responded to the voice of the mind, and pushed a squad that made five changes in one go about the one that fought the last Iran match and which he lost 0-2.

Fabio Lima has proven his right to be a key player after he early managed to give Al -Abyad the preference at the level of the result from the follow -up of the Kayo Lucas pass, which the North Korean goalkeeper removed the first time and then completed it in the goal, «5».

The national team remained on its field superiority, and the ball was desirable for most of the time, and it had the opportunity to score the goal of reinforcement, after it penetrated the defenses of the Korean team, to be obstructed, but the Saudi referee, Mohammed Al -Huwaish, indicated the continuation of the “31” play.

Khaled Issa’s goal was to receive a goal from the first and dangerous threat to the North Korean team, from a header played by Kwang Huan, who is close to the goal, but he hit him, the crossbar «32».
However, the North Korean team succeeded in the second occasion to realize the draw by Kim Yu Song, from following a rebound from the crossbar to complete it in the “43” goal.

The Korean team dared Al -Abyad at the beginning of the second half, and Khaled Issa saved his goal from a goal achieved from a powerful shot launched by Cook Chul, and the goalkeeper turned it into a corner «49».

At the time calculated instead of lost (90+10), substitute Sultan Adel managed to score the winning goal for the national team from a header to give “Al -Abyad” three points in urgent need.