Asian Cup: North Korea 0 UAE 0

North Korea and the United Arab Emirates began their Asian Cup campaigns with a lacklustre 0-0 draw at the Qatar Sports Club on Tuesday.

With Iraq and Iran the more-fancied teams in Group D, both sides should have been desperate for three points. But after dominating the opening half, the UAE’s intensity fell away for large periods of the second period in a disappointing affair.

North Korea should have taken the lead after six minutes, when a clever ball from captain Hong Yong-Jo had Jong Tae-Se bearing down on goal before a clumsy challenge from Hamdan Al Kamali brought the Bochum striker down.

Malaysian referee Subkhiddin Salleh immediately pointed to the penalty spot, only for Hong to blast his penalty into the crossbar.

The UAE soon settled, and after 12 minutes North Korea goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk failed to deal with a high ball from UAE skipper Subait Khater, but his defenders were on hand to avert any danger.

North Korea were lucky again on 21 minutes when the ball broke kindly for Ahmed Khalil. Ri, however, was off his line quickly to make a crucial save.

The UAE again went close after 25 minutes when a Khater free kick found Al Kamali unmarked in the box, but the defender’s header was just over.

The UAE’s Amer Abdulrahman picked out Ismail Matar with a delightful through-ball on the half-hour mark, only for the the midfielder to flash his volley wide of the upright.

After the interval, Khater fired a shot over the crossbar after some nice build-up play, and Matar followed suit two minutes later with a forceful drive.

From there, the match descended into dour struggle, with the UAE reduced to blasting from long range while North Korea struggled to gain a foothold in midfield.

But with two minutes remaining, Ismail Al Hammadi found himself through on goal and his shot produced another good save from Ri.

From the resulting corner, a header from substitute Saeed Al Kathiri forced the North Korean shot-stopper to dive at full stretch to his left to pull off a wonderfully acrobatic save, ensuring there would be no late winner.