The UAE thought referee Vo Minh Tri should have awarded them two penalties during their 1-1 draw with Yemen.TASHKENT – UAE assistant coach Salem Al Arfi and Yemen coach Sami Al Nash were at odds on the performance of Vietnamese referee Vo Minh Tri after the two sides drew 1-1 in their Group D opener on Sunday.
Mohammed Greef put Yemen ahead after 21 minutes at MHSK Stadium but UAE levelled the score with a 35th minute free-kick from Fahad Salim.
However, Al Arfi was far from pleased with the referee’s handling of the game.
"We had a good game tonight but the only difference in the game was the referee," he said.
"We deserved to have two clear penalty kicks in the game but the referee didn't give it to us.
"I confess that we made some mistakes tonight but the referee made a lot of mistakes and these were crucial mistakes which affected the result of the game.
"If we had one of these two penalties then things would have been different," he added.
"We could be dissatisfied with the performance of the referee but this is football at the end of the day."
Yemen coach Al Nash disagreed with Al Arfi’s assessment of Minh Tri’s performance.
"The referee was good tonight although there were some slight mistakes," said Al Nash.
"UAE scored the equaliser from an undeserved foul outside the area but we respect the referee and his decisions.
"I would like to thank UAE for the competitive game. Both teams had equal chances to win the game and the contest was exciting although the match finished in a draw.
"We had a slow start in the game because we were a little bit cautious and didn't want to open the game right from the beginning," he continued.
"When the players started to get into the game, things were good for us.
"We ordered the players not to open the game in the back and to have a good defensive balance
"As the game progressed, we knew the key points for UAE and we started to attack but unfortunately we couldn't score more goals."
Spurce:The AFC.com
