UAE captain Hamdan Al-Kamali made a dreadful error in the dying seconds of the extra time as his side lost 2-1 to Costa Rica in the quarter-finals of the U-20 World Cup. Al-Kamali returned a short ball towards his goal, only to be snatched by a Costa Rican forward whose shot was parried by keeper Yousef Abdul-Rahman. But Marcos Urena drilled the ball home on the rebound in the last minute of the extra time as Costa Rica ousted the second Arab side in the tournament after Egypt. UAE initially took the lead trough Ahmed Ali and Costa Rica equalized by Josue Martinez header. UAE were cheered by hundreds of Egyptians, who mixed with the Emirates fans, waving flags of both countries. It seemed that UAE learned the lesson from Egypt's defeat against Costa Rica. They avoided playing long balls and stuck to their short-pass game. UAE broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when Ali ghosted behind his marker to connect with a low cross before tapping home with one touch. Costa Rica leveled just four minutes later with Martinez heading home from close range. The second period was much faster as both teams pushed forward in search for the second goal. But defenders on both ends had the upper hand. Substitute Ali Mabkhoot almost grabbed the winner in the 85th minute, when he rounded his marker and went one-on-one with the keeper but dinked the ball wide. UAE were clearly better in the first-half of the extra time, launching several raids on the Costa Rican goal, with the most dangerous shot coming from Al-Kamali, whose effort was converted into a corner-kick by the keeper. But the skipper failed to clear an easy ball in deep into injury time as Costa Rica went through. They will play Brazil in the semis.
