THE UAE will be fighting to keep their semi-final hopes alive tonight when they take on Kuwait in the fifth Huawei GCC National Teams Under-23 Championship.

The Emiratis lost to hosts Bahrain in their opening group ‘A’ fixture on Thursday night, and today must win against their Kuwaiti counterparts in order to have any chance of moving on from the preliminary round.

Kuwait are playing their first game today and a win would put them and Bahrain through to the semi-finals, with the Emiratis suffering their second defeat in as many games.

Tonight’s match is scheduled for a 7pm kick-off and it will be played at the National Stadium in Riffa.

The UAE will be hoping for top form from Salem Alrejabi, Abdulsalam Suliman, Younis Mubarak, Mohamed Alhosani and Khaled Almarzouq.

Kuwait will be looking to be led by the likes of Saud Al Ansari, Faisal Al Harbi, Hamad Ali Sultan, Abdulrahman Al Shammari and Yousef Rashidi.