SHARJAH: UAE coach Mahdi Ali said his team will not relax in the last Group A round robin league match against Oman today in the 21st Gulf Cup being held in Bahrain.

Both the last round-robin matches will be played at 6.45 pm (UAE time) with the hosts playing Qatar at the National Stadium while UAE meeting Oman at the Khalifa Stadium, Bahrain.

While UAE have already qualified for the semifinals with six points, Qatar (3), Bahrain (1) and Oman (1) will fight it out for the second place. A win for Bahrain against Qatar will see them through while the Qataris only need a draw to advance. Oman have an outside chance if they manage to upset UAE but will have to wait for the Bahrain-Qatar result to see their fate.

UAE head coach Mahdi said that his team will not rest easy in their final group ‘A’ game against Oman on Friday, despite having already qualified for the semi-finals.

Ali stressed the importance of continuing to work hard and added that his players are hungry to prove that their early qualification for the last four was no fluke.

“This match against Oman is very important for us,” Ali said during the pre-match Press conference on Thursday at the Diplomat Radisson SAS Hotel in Manama.

“We want to prove to everyone that the UAE deserve to be at the top of our group.

“We will not be intentionally resting any players for the match, unless they have some yellow cards from previous games; we must not risk them getting another and being ineligible for any future matches.

“We will not relax. We will continue to do our best to achieve the best results we can.”

”The pressure in Friday’s match is on Oman,” he added.

“Oman have a tough task because they need to win to have any chance of qualifying,” the Emirati national explained. “Then, their qualification also depends on the result between Qatar and Bahrain.”

Oman head coach Paul Le Guen vowed that they will fight to keep their semi-final hopes alive when they take on undefeated UAE.