UAE beats Yemen with Mabkhout’s hattrick

The United Arab Emirates started their journey in the 24th Gulf Championship, beating Yemen with a clean three-goal by Ali Mabkhout, in the game played at Abdullah Khalifa Stadium.

The first 15 minutes passed with UAE’s superiority in possession of the ball trying to score a quick goal amid a few attempts by Yemeni players who relied on single playing that did not succeed until the 19th minute. UAE scored the first goal through Ali Mabkhout, who invested a cross from Bandar Ahbabi to put it in the net of Salem Awad.

After that, Yemen struggled to get out of their areas, until Abdulwasea Al-Matari’s free-kick hit the wall, followed by another attempt in the 35th minute from the same player with a header that went outside the goal.

With Yemen’s meager attempts, Ali Mabkhout returned to score the second goal in the 39th minute after his teammates led a rebound that reached Bandar Al Ahbabi, who sent a cross to Khalfan Mubarak. His shot hit Yemen’s defender to be completed by Mabkhout in the Yemeni goal.

In the 53rd minute, Ali Mabkhout returned to score his third goal after a pass from Khalfan Mubarak.

In the 82nd minute, the UAE substitute Khalil Ibrahim Yazid Al Ghala almost scored the fourth goal but Yemen goalkeeper’s Salem Awad stopped it.

The UAE team completed the last five minutes with 10 players after the injury of defender Hamdan Al Kamali. The technical staff preferred not to send him back to the game despite the exhaustion of substitutions until the end of the match, which was won by UAE. The match was attended by a total of 1,437 fans.