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DOHA: The United Arab Emirates struck late goals through Marcus Meloni and Caio Lucas to earn a 2-1 win over Oman in Doha on Saturday as Cosmin Olaroiu’s side battled back to keep their hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup alive.
Caio Lucas hit the fortuitous winner seven minutes from time after Meloni scored with a 76th minute header to cancel out an own goal by Kouame Kouadio that gave Oman a 12th minute lead.
The win moves the UAE to the cusp of their first appearance at the World Cup since 1990 with Olaroiu’s team only needing a draw away to Qatar on Tuesday to progress as winners of Group A in the fourth phase of Asia’s preliminaries.

The Omanis threatened in the early exchanges when Issam Al-Sabhi stole possession inside the UAE half only for the attack to fizzle out when his shot was eventually blocked. But it was not long before Carlos Queiroz’s side had taken the lead.
Ali Al-Busaidi’s cross from the left flew across the area to the feet of Amjad Al-Harthi whose shot took a deflection off Kouadio’s heel to beat goalkeeper Khalid Eissa low to his left.
Harib Abdalla’s introduction at the start of the second half injected much-needed urgency into the UAE attack, the forward twice calling keeper Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini into action.
With 14 minutes remaining the UAE deservedly pulled level, Meloni rising highest to meet substitute Ali Saleh’s inswinging cross from the left to beat Al-Mukhaini.
Seven minutes later Caio Lucas scored the winner, sending in a cross from the left that swung toward goal, bouncing on the turf inside the six-yard box and skipping beyond the keeper to earn UAE all three points.
The loss ends Oman’s hopes of automatic qualification but the Gulf state could still advance to another round of playoffs if the UAE defeat the Qataris by a large enough margin.
Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan have already taken six of Asia’s eight guaranteed spots at next year’s 48-team World Cup.

OSLO: Hundreds of people attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Oslo on Saturday ahead of Israel’s World Cup qualifier against Norway, chanting “Free Palestine” to protest against Israel’s “genocide,” AFP journalists reported.
Many demonstrators wore Palestinian keffiyeh shawls draped over their shoulders and waved Palestinian flags as they gathered in the city center before walking in a procession to the Ullevaal stadium.
Smoke flares were lit but the atmosphere remained calm.

“The message today is to say we give the red card to Israel, to apartheid, and to genocide,” said Line Khateeb, the head of the Norwegian Committee for Palestine, one of the organizers of the protest.
“We do not accept football being used to whitewash war crimes, as we see today when Israel participates in the World Cup qualification games,” she told AFP.
Demonstrators carried banners reading “Exclude Israel from International Football,” “From the River to the Sea,” “Red Card to Israel” and “It’s a Genocide, Not a War.”
“Israel has been committing genocide for the last two years and killing indiscriminately, doing the most horrible thing that could be imaginable,” one of the demonstrators, Munib Sarwar, a 40-year-old engineer, told AFP.

“We need to show solidarity with the children and the people of Gaza who have been terrorized for the last two years,” he added.
Organizers decided to go ahead with the demonstration despite the Gaza ceasefire deal reached Thursday between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“It’s not the end of the occupation. It doesn’t mean the West Bank is free. It doesn’t mean Palestine is free. We need to keep pushing and putting sanctions on Israel to hold them accountable in order to have a proper free Palestine,” Khateeb said.
Heavy security was in place for the match.
Dozens of police officers on horseback and others in riot gear were posted near the stadium, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.
The head of the Norwegian football association, Lise Klaveness, recently said she was pushing “for Israel to be sanctioned.”
“Personally, I think that if Russia is excluded, Israel should be as well,” she said in a Norwegian podcast.
Several days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, UEFA and FIFA agreed to exclude Russian teams and clubs from all international competitions, a sanction that remains in place.
The Norwegian Football Association has previously said it would donate the proceeds from the ticket sales for Saturday’s match to Doctors Without Borders.
With five victories in five matches, Norway top Group I of European qualifying with 15 points ahead of Italy and Israel, who both have nine points.