UAE v Iran: Paulo Bento sees positives despite World Cup qualifying setback

Mehdi Ghayedi's goal in first-half injury time sees Iran leave Al Ain with all three points

UAE coach Paulo Bento watches on as his side lose 1-0 to Iran in 2026 World Cup qualifying in Al Ain. Reuters

UAE coach Paulo Bento said there were plenty of positives to take from Tuesday's 1-0 defeat to Iran in World Cup qualifying.

Mehdi Ghayedi's goal in first-half injury time proved the difference at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, though the UAE pushed for an equaliser right to the final whistle.

The result leaves the UAE third in Group A of Asian qualifying on three points following last week's 3-1 win over Qatar.

“The result was not good, of course. However, I think that the performance in general was good," Bento told reporters. "We had a first half with a good balance, good control, against the strengths of a strong opponent in the right way.

“Defensively we didn't concede almost anything against a very good team. We didn't create too much, even if in certain moments of the first half we did dominate the game a little bit and controlled the game with some long ball possessions.

“I think that the moment of the game is the goal we suffered. So there were many aspects that hurt too much the team in that moment, not just because we suffered the goal, but how we suffered the goal.

“This is my feeling, this is my opinion. Had we gone to the half time with the no score, it would have been a different game.”

A lapse in concentration from Khaled Al Dhanhani led to Iran's goal. The UAE defender was dispossessed inside his own area by Ghayedi, who took aim before slamming the ball home inside Khalid Essa's near post.

The home side thought they had been handed a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty after substitute Ali Saleh's cutback appeared to hit the arm of Iranian defender Saleh Hardani only for the decision to be overruled by a VAR review.

With 10 minutes of time added on at the end of the regulation 90, the UAE threw caution to the wind but were mostly restricted to speculative efforts from distance as the Iranian defence held firm..

“I want to congratulate the players for the way that they competed," added Bento. "It's not easy to stay in the game until the end against a team like Iran. They fought until the last second.

“Iran are a very good team. They were able to retreat and create enough space for counterattacks.”

UAE, bidding to make only a second World Cup appearance in two years' time, take on North Korea next in Al Ain on October 10 while Iran, seeking a fourth consecutive appearance at the global finals, clash with Uzbekistan in Tashkent in a top-of-the-table clash.

Bento said he and his coaching staff would spend time analysing both the victory over Qatar and defeat to Iran to prepare for their next set of fixtures, with an away match to Uzbekistan on October 15 also on the horizon.

“We need to take advantage from the good things. The good things is how we perform in both games and not just analyse the results,” Bento said.

“Now we need to keep looking forward and moving forward for October, that is most important. We must keep with our work, try to make the best after the level we competed in the two games. I think that is the level that we should maintain.

“We won against Qatar four days ago and lost the next. We had the right reaction like in Qatar, where we recovered after a goal down in the first half, but we just couldn’t achieve that against Iran.”

The Iran manager Amir Ghalenoei heaped praise on the Portuguese manager and the team at the post-match conference.

“I have a few points to say. First, I would like to congratulate Paulo Bento for an exciting, good game. I think it's a good team that the UAE manager has built,” Ghalenoei said.

“It indeed was a close and entertaining game and I thought the goal we scored to go into the break with the lead made all the difference. We play with a lot of planning.

“I think the UAE is one of the best teams in the group. We witnessed a good game and both teams played really well. We were close to getting punished because in the first 60-70 minutes we lost a lot of scoring opportunities and UAE had good chances in the last 20 minutes for an equaliser.

“I'm happy that we didn't get punished though. Actually, this is a problem in our team that we are losing good scoring opportunities and losing a lot of possession in the attack.

“This is the only part in the match that we are not really satisfied. I'm not really satisfied about our players, but in general I think we are satisfied with the result and hopefully we can do better in the next matches.”