Al Abyad were held to a 1-1 draw by Palestine on matchday two, taking their tally to four points from two games, three clear of third-placed Lions of Canaan, and two adrift of Team Melli in Group C.
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United Arab Emirates will be looking to seal their place in the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 when they take on Iran in their final match of Group C at Education City Stadium on Tuesday. Al Abyad were held to a 1-1 draw by Palestine on matchday two, taking their tally to four points from two games, three clear of third-placed Lions of Canaan. Team Melli, meanwhile, secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Hong Kong on Friday, moving to six points from two outings and thereby ensuring a place in the last-16 stage.
Gearing up for a thrilling showdown on the pitch today!⚽️ What’s your score prediction?
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— #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) January 23, 2024
Iran kicked off their campaign with a dominant 4-1 victory over Palestine of January 14 thanks to one goal each from Karim Ansarifard, Shojae Kalilzadeh, Mehdi Ghayedi and Sardar Azmoun. Five days later, Team Melli came up against a spirited Hong Kong, and Ghayedi’s lone effort mid-way through the first-half separated the two sides at Khalifa International Stadium. As a result Iran are into the knockout round of the tournament for an eighth successive campaign, increasing their winning run to four games in all competitions. Moreover, Amir Ghalenoei’s men have now extended their unbeaten run to 15 games in all competitions.
UAE, on the other hand, would consider themselves fortunate to have earned a point against Palestine on Friday, having played the majority of the match with a man-less following Khalifa Al Hamadi’s red card in the 37th-minute. Al-Abyad took the lead through Sultan Adill Alamiri’s 23rd-minute opener, before Bader Abaelaziz’s 50th-minute own goal made the score 1-1. Though Lions of Canaan came out all guns blazing, recording eight shots on target, while restricting UAE to just two, Paulo Bento’s men stood firm to secure a draw and put themselves in a strong position to progress to the round of 16 stage. Bento’s side need just a solitary point on Tuesday to move into the knockout stage, while a victory will help them to win their AFC Asian Cup group for a second successive campaign and likely have a more favourable last-16 matchup.
Iran probable starting lineup: Beiranvand, Rezaeian, Kanaanizadegan, Hosseini, Hajsafi, Ghoddos, Ezatolahi, Jahanbakhsh, Taremi, Ghayedi, Ansarifard
UAE probable starting lineup: Eisa, Sultan, Al-Hashemi, Nasser, Idrees, Salmeen, Ramadan, Lima, Saleh, Canedo, Adil
Iran
| Opponents | Score |
| Hong Kong | 0-1 (W) |
| Palestine | 4-1 (W) |
| Indonesia | 0-5 (W) |
| Burkina Faso | 2-1 (W) |
| Uzbekistan | 2-2 (D) |
United Arab Emirates
| Opponents | Score |
| Palestine | 1-1 (D) |
| Hong Kong | 3-1 (W) |
| Oman | 0-1 (L) |
| Kyrgyzstan | 1-0 (W) |
| Bahrain | 0-2 (W) |
| Last 5 match-results | Score |
| Iran beat UAE | 1-0 |
| Iran beat UAE | 0-1 |
| Iran beat UAE | 1-0 |
| Iran beat UAE | 0-3 |
| Iran beat UAE | 1-0 |
The AFC Asian Cup fixture between Iran and UAE will take place at Education City Stadium on Tuesday at 8:30 pm IST.
| Iran vs UAE | Key Details |
| Date | January 23 |
| Venue | Education City Stadium |
| Kickoff time in Iran | 6:30 pm |
| Kickoff time in UAE | 7:00 pm |
| Kickoff time in Qatar | 6:00 pm |
| Kickoff time in India | 8:30 pm |
The live telecast of the AFC Asian Cup matches in India will be available on Sports 18 network. Besides, football fans in India can also live stream the game through Jio Cinema. Meanwhile, those in Iran can watch the match on Persiana Sports, AIO Sport, aionet.sir and Shabake 3. Football fans in the UAE can catch the live action via TOD, beIN Asian Cup 2 and bi IN Sports Connect.
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