Paulo “Benbudge” Bento has reported a cool victory in his United Arab Emirates (UAE) debut.

The United Arab Emirates defeated Costa Rica 4-1 in an exhibition match at the Stade Marksimir in Zagreb, Croatia, on Wednesday (July 13).

The match marked the debut of Bento, who took charge of the UAE in July. The opponents were Costa Rica, who had just beaten Roberto Mancini’s Saudi Arabia 3-1, but the UAE’s ‘honeymoon effect’ with Bento was evident in their unexpected victory.

The UAE scored three goals in the first half alone to embarrass Costa Rica. It was a 45-minute spell of dominance despite being objectively outgunned.

Yahya Algassani opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a nice dribble and shot. Then, in the 23rd minute, Kaio Canedo made it 2-0 with a finish after a nice passing play. The final goal of the first half came in the 38th minute. Ali Salmin opened the scoring for Costa Rica with a spectacular mid-range shot.

The UAE and Costa Rica were evenly matched in the second half. In the 54th minute, Al Ghassani exploded for a multi-goal outburst and a 4-0 lead. Costa Rica fought back and Julio Cascante scored in the 65th minute to avoid a goalless draw.

Bento’s UAE lost the ball possession battle (43-57), but still managed to get six shots on goal, five of which were on target. It was a triumph of tactics and strategy, with no shortage of promising plays in the process of scoring.

Bento has been well-received by his players and the local media since taking over the UAE job, and his tireless work in the UAE league, the Austrian camp, and watching the players’ past games has certainly built internal trust.

With a good process comes a good result. Given the difference in weight classes between the UAE and Costa Rica, the victory was hard to predict, and it was a 4-1 thrashing. Bento had a debut game that took everyone by surprise. 메이저사이트