Paulo Bento has a job to do. When he immediately tried to douse the fervour of his side’s extraordinary comeback win in Doha on Thursday night, there was a method to it. The UAE manager was not being an old curmudgeon just for the sake of it.
The roars of delight were still pealing down the corridor from the away team dressing room at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium. And well the players might celebrate. They had just pulled off a victory for the ages.
A goal down, with just a 27 per cent share of possession, against the champions of Asia, a Qatar side that put nine past them with no response over the course of two games not so long ago.
And then, the Revelation of Al Rayyan happened. First, the equaliser from Harib Abdallah, prompting a surge in belief that made even Khalid Al Dhanhani, the conscientious right-back, think anything was possible. Even a wonder strike into top corner after a dribble up field. With his left foot! Yes, that really did happen.
Enough time still for their resistance to be quelled, as the referee awarded a penalty to Qatar when the ball accidentally rolled against the arm of the prone Yahia Nader in the box.
When the official then reversed his call after consultation with the video assistant, it was the hosts who wilted. The UAE pounced, with Ali Saleh striking a third to confirm the three points.
Which, according to Bento, is all it was. Three points, now onto the next job, another mammoth assignment, against perennial World Cup participants Iran on Tuesday.
“Now, they should be happy because they deserve to be, but no more than that,” Bento said of victory in the opening game of a six-team group which carries with it two qualifying places for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
“It is a victory, three points, but it is just the beginning of the race. If we had lost, it was the beginning of the race as well. Now, nothing has changed in my mind.”
The UAE have had great nights before. Bento himself was on the receiving end of one of the most recent ones, when Abdallah scored the goal that beat his formidable South Korea side in the last World Cup qualifying campaign.
“The Korea game was different and our coach now was their coach then when I scored against them,” Abdallah said of the strike that announced him on the international stage at Al Nasr in Oud Metha. “Today I have scored again and helped my team to win.”
Talking of Oud Metha, the place will be buzzing on Friday morning when the kids from Dubai English Speaking School find out about one of their former pupils was up to the night before.
Maybe some of them even stayed up to watch as Mackenzie Hunt became the first UK-based player to debut for the national team.
The teachers might hope not, or else they will have some grumpy little wards to coax through lessons. After all, Hunt’s introduction to international football was delayed until the 88th minute – and just after that penalty kerfuffle.
With nine minutes of stoppage time to follow, it still gave him enough time to make an impact. And that is exactly what he did, threading the pass through that set up Saleh to rifle the ball into the roof of the net for the third.
It was a moment for all the country to revel in, not just one particular section of the community. A Scouser slipping through a neat through ball to a (half) Scotsman to score for the UAE.
Saleh’s mother is a Hearts fan from Edinburgh. He is more of a Celtic man himself, and admits it.
What all the players in white shirts are, though, is a team united in their aim of carrying the country to the World Cup for the second time, and the first since 1990.
As Bento is at pains to point out, there is a long and potted road between now and qualification. But at least they have made the best possible start.
“In this moment I am happy, really happy, not just because of the result but because of the performance,” Bento said.
“But I am concerned as well. After this victory, I need to check and feel how they are going to react. It is not just about reacting to the bad moments.
“In the bad moments, we need a reaction to be better next time. In this case, it is not like that. This is something that didn’t happen for a long time: a victory against Qatar.
“I need to feel, I need to smell how they are to behave tomorrow, how they are going to behave after tomorrow, how they are going to behave in the day before [the Iran] game.
“After checking everything, we will see how we are going to compete against Iran. If the level that we showed today is lower on Tuesday, we are not going to stay so happy.”
