UAE coach Ali Ibrahim has every confidence that his side can defeat U-16 champions Japan.TASHKENT – UAE coach Ali Ibrahim is confident his side will take all three points from Japan when they face the defending champions in their second match in Group D of the AFC U-16 Championship on Tuesday.
UAE secured a 1-1 draw with Yemen in their first game in the tournament but Ibrahim believes that his players are capable of getting the victory that will reignite their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
"We take each game as it comes," said Ibrahim, who will be without defender Khalifa Abdulrahman through injury.
"Japan are strong and they won the first match but we are still in contention and we must win.
"We will go for a win on Tuesday just like we do with all the games. We know that Japan are a strong team but we have great faith in our players and that they can get a win tomorrow."
Japan coach Ikeuchi Yutaka admitted there will be some changes to the team that defeated Malaysia 4-0 as his side look to seal their place in the knockout stage with one round let to play.
"We are going to change some positions and players against UAE," said Yutaka.
"We asked the players to communicate much more with the ball and not to be afraid like they were against Malaysia.
"Our aim is to seal our place in the next stage and this can be done with a win on Tuesday. We need to get to the last four in order to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup next year. This is our main target."
Yemen coach Sami Al Nash said his side are fully focussed on their game against Malaysia as a win coupled with a UAE defeat to Japan could put them closer to a place in the next round.
"Our concentration is now on the match against Malaysia," he said.
"The previous draw with UAE forces us to get a win and we must do that against Malaysia.
"We will correct the mistakes that we had in the first match. We lost two points in that game but we still have a chance to go through."
Malaysia coach Lim Kim Chon warned his side have nothing to lose in the game, with his players looking only to gain experience from playing in such a tournament.
"In a tournament like this, the most important thing is to give the majority of the players a chance to play," he said.
"We have nothing to lose as we still have two matches to play and we will give players us much chance as we can."
Source:The AFC.com
