The World Cup-bound UAE Under 20 football team suffered their second consecutive defeat in friendly games when they lost 3-0 to Cameroon on Sunday night. The UAE, camping in the Turkish city of Antalya before the start of the World Cup in Egypt, dominated the game from the outset, but failed to score. Ahmed Khalil tested the Cameroon goalkeeper twice in the opening minutes, but the Africans scored from a counter-attack in the 8th minute to take the lead. Two more goals followed before the end of the first half. The Whites continued to dominate the proceedings in the second half as well, but failed to make the breakthrough. Talking about the two defeats, team manager Mohammed Obaid al Hammad said: "It is better to make mistakes now and learn from them, than repeat them at the World Cup. "We still have the time to work on our mistakes, but once the World Cup starts, we will not have this chance. "So I am not really concerned about these losses. We are not looking for results in these friendly games; we just want to benefit from their experience before going to the World Cup." The UAE had earlier lost 2-1 against Trinidad and Tobago and will next play Ivory Coast on Wednesday before shifting base to Istanbul for their final stage of preparation. Mahdi Ali, the team coach, was not in Antalya for the Cameroon game as he was in Germany, taking notes on South Africa who were playing the hosts in a friendly. The UAE will start their World Cup campaign against South Africa on September 27 and meet Honduras three days later before completing their group matches against Hungary on October 3.
arizvi@thenational.ae