November 17, 2006	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1427

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KARACHI, Nov 16: Pakistan went down fighting 2-3 to United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their Asian Cup qualifiers at Abu Dhabi's Al-Jazera Bin Ziyad Stadium.

Led by Muhammad Essa, Pakistan took the lead in the 23rd minute when right-full back Naveed Akram fired the opener. The UAE players made several attempts to level the score in the first half but could not succeed and the Pakistanis maintained their lead at the breather.

But barely nine minutes into the second half, the hosts drew level when Ali Abbas headed a corner kick while Mohammed Omar doubled the lead in the 58th minute.

Pakistan then drew level through former national skipper Tanveer Ahmed's 67th minute goal. But their hopes to earn points in the competition were dashed when Omar scored his second goal six minutes later to give UAE a 3-2 victory.

With the victory, the UAE moved into the 16-nation finals along with Oman from Group-C. The finals kick off on July 9, 2007 at Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam simultaneously.—Agencies