This Day (Lagos)
Olawale Ajimotokan
3 November 2009
Lagos — The round of 16 knock out matches resumes today with the United Arab Emirates vowing to raise the roof when they cross paths with Turkey this afternoon at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu. UAE is one of the most talked about teams at Nigeria 2009, not in the least for their type of football, but for the manner they romped to this stage on the fairplay rule as one of the best third place teams despite losing 1-0 to the USA in their last group fixture at the Gateway International Stadium, Ijebu Ode.
Ahead of today's match against Group D winners, Turkey, the Emirates assistant coach Al Afri did not want the ability of the side to be subjected to doubt by insisting they are not afraid of the Turks.
"We are very capable of holding our own against any team including the Turks at this tournament. We are not afraid of going into the knock out stage because we know we have a good team that has a mentality for victory" Al Afri said.
This confidence was also echeed by a member of the team, Fahad Salim who warned that the Turks, thought so far without blemish, will only underrate the Emirates side nurtured by coach Ali Ebrahim to their own detriment.
Salim said that the team would get better and remain one of the sides to beat after the loss to the USA, which denied them a straight passage to the knock out stage and a scary moment of impending elimination.
"We will get it right in Enugu. Beating Turkey is not impossible because this is a good draw for us" he said.
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