Palestine and 10-man UAE play out draw in Asian Cup

AL WAKRAH, Qatar : Palestine held 10-man United Arab Emirates to a 1-1 draw in their Asian Cup Group C match at Al Janoub Stadium on Thursday after Sultan Adil's opener was cancelled out by an own goal.

UAE took the lead in the 23rd minute when Adil scored with a leaping header but their hopes of an easy contest thereafter went up in smoke when Khalifa Al-Hammadi received a red card for a foul on Palestine forward Oday Dabbagh.

The UAE centre back was guilty of holding and then pulling Dabbagh down in the box, and he was sent off after a VAR review. However, Palestine's Tamer Seyam took a tame spot kick which was saved by UAE goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.

But with UAE down to 10 men, Palestine took the game to the 2019 semi-finalists and their persistence was duly rewarded five minutes into the second half when Bader Abaelaziz headed a cross into his own net to make it 1-1.

However, Palestine were unable to make the extra man advantage count as their wait for a first win in the Asian Cup since their 2015 debut continues.

UAE are still top of Group C with four points while Palestine are third with one point. Second-placed Iran (three points) face bottom side Hong Kong (no points) on Friday.