AFC Asian Cup 2019, India 0-2 UAE: 5 Talking Points

#4 UAE's professionalism killed off India

Ali Mabkhout secured the points late in the second half for the UAE

Alberto Zaccheroni is an old, experienced head, and that showed tonight. He has been under fire from the Emirati media for the way the team has performed in recent games, but the Italian earned his money today, with some of his decisions.

The biggest of them was to bring on Majed Hassan in midfield to replace Khamis Ismaeel. In the first half, the UAE weren't able to deal with the nous and positioning of Sunil Chhetri, who had positioned himself just in between the midfield and the defensive line and causing havoc.

Hassan just came on and sat in that space, and killed off India's biggest attacking threat, by not allowing him room to manouevre.

That meant that Chhetri was not able to bring others, like Udanta Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan into play as much as he was able to in the first-half.

Once the game crossed the hour mark, the UAE sensed desperation in Indian ranks and decided that all they had to do was keep the ball, stroke it around, and allow India to chase it.

They were the most-fancied side in this group, and in the second half, the UAE showed just why they are.