The UAE and Tahiti will meet in one of the matches of the 1st round of the 2021 World Cup. Who will start the tournament with a victory?
UAE
The last time the UAE played at the Independence Cup friendly tournament, in which they won two victories-2: 1 over Oman and 6: 5 over Ukraine (5-5 in the game and 4-3 in the penalty shootout), and also suffered one defeat-3: 5 from Turkey. As for the official matches, the extreme one happened in 2019, within the framework of the World Championship. Then the UAE could not overcome the group stage, having won one victory in three rounds and taking the last place.
Tahiti
At the previous World Cup, the Tahiti national team was the main discovery, because it not only managed to qualify for the main stage, beating the Solomon Islands in the final (4-3), but also performed very competitively in the group stage, being a step away from the playoffs: a 4-12 defeat by Italy, but then two confident victories over Mexico and Uruguay (6-1 and 6-4, respectively).
Statistics and figures:
- The UAE alternates wins with losses for nine games, the first more;
- Tahiti have won in seven of their last eight matches;
- The UAE and Tahiti have met 5 times between themselves: 3 victories for the UAE and two for Tahiti.
Forecast
In the last two head-to-head matches, the UAE and Tahiti performed effectively, scoring 10 and 13 goals respectively. I believe that something similar will happen this time, as both teams are effective in attack and will do everything to win the most important victory, which will increase the chances of getting out of the group.
