Tiki Toa player-coach Teva Zaveroni opened the scoring to give his side the lead but Ali Karim equalised just six minutes later.
In an extremely physical and demanding match, there was little to separate the two teams prompting them both to take their feet off the accelerators to conserve energy.
Raimana Li Fung Kuee pushed his team closer to victory after taking advantage of a free kick a few centimetres away from the penalty line, taking the score to 2-1 in the Tiki Toa’s favour.
The Tahitians managed to preserve their lead and keep their goal safe, with goalkeeper Jonathan Torohia making several excellent saves.
However the UAE soon realised they would need to use everything they had in reserve if they wanted to take points in the match and pushed forward in an attempt to turn things around.
The approach soon paid off for the hosts with Rami eventually finding a crack in the Tiki Toa’s defence and capitalising on it to equalise.
It turned out not to be the Tahitians’ night after an Abdil goal for UAE in the dying minute left the final score at 3-2.
Meanwhile, in the other Pool A match defending champions Russia dominated over the USA with a 9-1 victory taking them straight to the top of the leaderboard.
The Tiki Toa’s next game is today against Russia at 6pm local time.
For more on Tahiti football go to www.ftf.pf

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