Two teams chasing third place in the 2015 Asian Cup will do battle today in a match between Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The clash scheduled for 4 a.m. ET will be held at Hunter Stadium in Newcastle and can be live streamed here. Additional TV coverage can be found on One World Sports.
What They're Saying
Iraqi forward Justin Meram (via MLSsoccer.com): "Hotels hate us. The lobbies are a disaster. It's high security and thousands of people chanting...It's sad in a way because with football in America, they love the game, but the passion over here, it's incredible. Some fans are having anxiety attacks during the game and have to go to the hospital because they can't handle it."
UAE head coach Mahdi Ali (via Goal): "Playing under pressure every three days against strong teams is a great experience for the players. You need to concentrate in critical moments, especially in the first 15 minutes, at the end of the first half and the start of the second half, but we lost concentration in the first 15 minutes [against Australia] and conceded two goals. This is a big lesson and we need to learn you have to concentrate for 90 minutes and mistakes are not acceptable, as you lose the game."
Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: UAE's Ahmed Khalil is the tournament's sixth highest scorer. The forward enters tonight's match with two goals.
Iraq's Projected Lineup (4-4-2): Hachim, Khalaf, Ismail, Shakir, Yasin, Saad, Rashid, Kalaf, Salim, Mahmoud, Alaa
UAE's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Naser; Sanqour, Juma, Salem, Abbas; Esmaeel, Abdulrahman; Hajeri, Abdulrahman, Abdulrahman; Khalil
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (lineups and statistics via WhoScored).
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