It was a game that made UAE soccer supporters nervous, but the senior national team got out of Kuala Lumpur with an unimpressive, 2-1 victory, as reported in The National, over a Malaysia team the Emiratis beat 10-0 two months ago.

It means the UAE “golden generation” — which makes up most of the current national team — can still think in terms of reaching the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990.

Fans at home would have been thinking of another decisive victory, maybe along the lines of 5-0, but it became clear fairly early that was not going to happen.

The coach, Mahdi Ali, after the match said: “I keep telling everyone there are no easy games in football,” but fans remembered that 10-0.

The Malays, not surprisingly, seemed more comfortable with the state of the water-logged pitch, something most of the Emiratis may not have experienced more than a time or two.

They got one first-half goal, a fine lob inside the far post by Omar Abdulrahman, and a second after the break, from Ahmed Khalil, on a pass from Omar (those two were the best players on the pitch, by some distance), but Malaysia got one back in the 59th, on a header from a corner, with some ugly defending … and it was nervous time.

A draw likely would have been fatal to the UAE hopes of advancing to the final round of Asia qualifying, never mind getting to Russia.

Oddly, though, the final half hour was curiously limp. The UAE was careful about going forward, but the Emiratis generated far more chances than did the Malays, who seemed to think a 2-1 defeat was just fine and demonstrated it by time-wasting. Maybe it was about keeping their goal difference down, in case of a draw for last place in Group A with East Timor?

So, the game crawled along to an end, with the final act the Emiratis clearing a corner kick.

A couple of results elsewhere were a boon to the UAE, Jordan’s loss at Kyrgystan and Oman’s defeat at Turkmenistan reduced the number of points those two second-place sides can hope to amass.

Which matters because, still, the UAE needs to think about the possibility of finishing second and being one of the four best second-place finishers — which also would get them among the 12 who contest the final round.

The victory left things in the UAE’s hands. They have home matches against Palestine and Saudi Arabia in the final days of March, and a pair of victories likely will be enough to win Group A.

And even if they lose it on a tiebreaker to Saudi, they almost certainly would have done enough to be one of the four top runners-up.

Now, we look at the other big event of the week — the Asian Champions League final second leg, at Guangzhou, China, on Saturday — when Al Ahli of Dubai tries to come out on top after a scoreless first 90 minutes in the UAE.