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Peter Green - January 28, 2019
Qatar vs UAE
AFC Asian Cup.
Date: Tuesday, 29th January 2019.
Kick-Off at 14:00 UK/ 15:00 CET
Venue: Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi).
The hosts have reached the semi-finals of their own tournament. They have done excellent so far reaching their fourth semis in the Asian Cup.
The Whites will look to get into the finals and improve their best result as runners-up back in 1996. They did well against the reigning champions Australia in the quarters and a single goal from Ali Ahmed Mabkhout was enough to reach the last 4.
The Socceroos has a major part of the ball possession and dominated with 22 shots on goal as well. But the hosts stood strong in the first half and scored in the second to seal the deal. They will need a similar performance against Qatar, this Tuesday.
Qatar has the best defense in this edition of the Asian Cup. They have won all their 5 games so far and are yet to concede a goal. Less than 2.5 goals came in 4 of those 5 matches and the last 2 matches had a scoreline of 1-0.
In the quarters, they ended the unbeaten run of the South Koreans. This was a shocker for the Korean fans and pundits who considered them as the favorites to win this year. A silly mistake at the back by the Tigers was taken advantage of by Hatim Abdulaziz in the second half to send his team to the semi-finals.
We can expect a great game as two sides from the Middle-East go head to head for a place in the finals.
In 4 of the 5 matches played by the Maroons, the score at the normal time had less than 2.5 goals in total. We saw a similar trend in 4 matches of the hosts as well. So a bet can be placed on a score with fewer than 2.5 goals with 1.45 odds.
The main strength of the Maroons is their defense, as they have not conceded in this tournament. Their defense stood strong against the mighty South Korean attack in the quarters. Thus we can hope they do the same against the Whites, and bet on a clean sheet for them with 2.10 odds.
