DUBAI: A dream delayed or never destined to materialize?
Such thoughts are flooding through disconsolate UAE minds after Tuesday night’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat at Qatar’s charged Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
The foremost concern is how to psychologically manage a further series of exacting playoffs — beginning with next month’s doubleheader with Iraq. And, if they advance, concluding with March’s intercontinental dates.
This week, a return to the globe’s biggest sporting stage for the first time since 1990 was just one game away. That prospect of an immediate salve for an expectant nation is gone forever.
It was lost amid a chaotic, double-digit second-half injury time against 10 men and preceding pain of conceding twice via set-piece headers.
