The UAE defeats Yemen with a double in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers

The UAE national team continued its perfect start in Group H in the second round of the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The UAE national team defeated its guest Yemen national team 2-1, today, Thursday, in the third round of the eighth group competitions in the joint qualifiers for the World Cup and the Asian Cup.
The UAE team took the lead with Ali Saleh’s goal from a penalty kick in the 24th minute, but the Yemeni team equalized through friendly fire, after Abdullah Idris scored an own goal against his team in the 69th minute.
The Yemeni national team was not happy with its draw, after Sultan Al Amiri added the second goal for the UAE national team in the 72nd minute.
The UAE team’s score, which won all of its first three matches in the group, which also includes Bahrain and Nepal, rose to 9 points in the lead, achieving the full score so far, while the Yemeni team’s score stopped at 3 points in third place.
The second round of the qualifiers includes 36 teams divided into nine groups, with each group including 4 teams competing in a round-robin league system. The first two teams from each group qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, and these teams receive tickets to participate in the 2027 Asian Cup.
In the third round, the 18 teams are divided into 3 groups, so that each group includes 6 teams competing in a round-robin league system, and the first two teams from each group qualify directly for the World Cup, while the third and fourth teams from each group move on to compete in the fourth round, in order to determine the last. Two teams that have direct berths for the World Cup, and the team that moves to the Asian playoff to determine the team that qualifies for the global playoff.