UAE captain Saeed Al Kathiri admits poor scheduling affected the team’s performance but refused to use it as an excuse for their 1-0 defeat to North Korea in the Asian Games football quarter-finals today.

Less than 48 hours separated the last 16 matches and quarter-finals and Al Kathiri said it was impossible to recover in time.

The Whites were on their way into extra time against the North Koreans after both sides failed to score in the first 92 minutes before Jong In-Gwan buried a goal in the third minute of injury time to dash the UAE’s hopes of securing a medal.

"We didn’t want to lose like this, but this is football. We tried and we were close," Al Kathiri told Sport360°.

"There were exactly 46 hours between our last 16 and quarter-final matches, how could we possibly recover or rest in such little time?

"But also it was the same for North Korea, so we can’t use this as an excuse, but it was tough and it definitely affected us.

"Our match was played at 2:00pm, at least they could have scheduled it a bit later in the day."

Al Kathiri, who has scored four goals for the UAE this tournament and is one of three overage players allowed in the under-23 squad, was part of the team that won silver at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou under current national team coach Mahdi Ali.

That team blossomed under Mahdi’s guidance and after impressing in the London 2012 Olympics, have graduated with him to the country’s first team, which has triumphed in the Gulf Cup and are looking to excel at the upcoming AFC Asian Cup in Australia in January.

Asked whether he believes the current Olympic squad can have a similar success story, Al Kathiri said: "To be honest, I feel this generation has talent but they need support. They need someone to stand behind them.

"The coach (Ali Ibrahim) is good and the players are capable, they are also very young. We were one of the youngest teams here in Korea. If they continue working hard and get the necessary support, they can do well."

On his part, coach Ali Ibrahim could not fault his players for today's defeat to North Korea and seconded Al Kathiri’s views on the scheduling.

"We played a big match and it was tough for both teams as we had such little time between the last 16 and the last eight," said Ibrahim.

"We had several chances to score but we were unlucky and they stole the match with that late goal."

In other quarter-final action, South Korea captain Jang Hyun-Soo converted a penalty two minutes from time to beat arch-rivals Japan and set-up a semi-final against Thailand, who defeated Jordan 2-0.

The other semi-final will see North Korea face a tough tie against Iraq, who downed Saudi Arabia 3-0.