Caio Lucas, the Sharjah forward, says his side want to win the AFC Champions League Two title as a farewell gift for Cosmin Olaroiu, their coach.
Lucas is one of several players who will still likely be seeing plenty of the Romanian in the future.
As one of many UAE players in the Sharjah squad, he will be straight back under the coach’s guidance when he takes up his new role in charge of the national team as soon as the domestic season ends.
Olaroiu has overseen a fine final campaign in club football, with Sharjah reaching the final of the President’s Cup.
They are also second in the UAE Pro League, although Shabab Al Ahli – the domestic double winners – can no longer be caught at the top.
The one remaining chance they have for their endeavours to be rewarded with a trophy is in the Champions League Two final, against Lion City Sailors in Singapore on Sunday.
It also represents Olaroiu’s last shot at winning a continental title with a UAE club. He has won everything else, making him – by a distance – the most decorated coach in UAE football.
In 2015, he took Al Ahli to the final of what is now known as the AFC Champions League Elite, only for them to lose out to China’s Guangzhou Evergrande.
As such, Al Ain remain the only UAE side to have won an Asian continental title. Lucas says the players are motivated to rectify that statistic, and see Olaroiu on his way in the best fashion possible.
“As a player, I speak for my teammates when I say we try to do the best every game we play to win, and to listen to watch the coach tells us,” Lucas said.
“For sure, it would be a pleasure for us to give him this gift. We are all together to try to do our best to win the game, and to do it for the coach.
“It is an honour for us to be here to represent our country. We have worked so hard to be here and we will try to do our best.”
Since Olaroiu was confirmed as the replacement for Paulo Bento as UAE coach, Sharjah’s form has dipped. They have won just once, and lost their past five matches.
The coach reasoned that they have been dealing with the effects of injuries in their Champions League Two semi-final tie against Al Taawoun.
The fact they have shuffled their pack accordingly in the league partly explains the drop off in results, but he is confident they are ready to give everything in the final.
“The most important thing is the team who find a way to have the most self-control will be able to play to their maximum potential,” Olaroiu said.
“We hope it will be us, so we can reach our dream. To play in a final and win such a big trophy is a dream you have from when you start to play football.
“In this job, everyone dreams of this. Now our dream is 90 minutes away from us.”
Olaroiu did question whether the stage fits the occasion. The final is being played at Bishan Stadium, which is a municipal sports facility in the centre of the city state.
It is where Lion City Sailors play their regular season matches, but usually only has a small capacity for spectators.
Their home games in this competition have been played at a slightly larger ground across the city, but Sharjah protested at the match going ahead there due to it being an artificial surface.
The preferred venue for a game of such significance in Singapore would have been the 55,000-capacity National Stadium, but that will be playing host to a Lady Gaga concert instead.
The AFC had instructed the Sailors to find an alternative venue elsewhere, only for the club to convince them they could upgrade the Bishan Stadium to suitable standard.
Now the athletics track where the public are usually able to run is taken up by temporary stands, which have taken the capacity to 10,000.
All of the tickets sold out within a day, and Olaroiu is unhappy that a number of Sharjah fans who wanted to travel have missed out.
“My view is it should be in a proper stadium with a bigger capacity because football is for the fans,” Olaroiu said.
“If it was played in a bigger stadium with a bigger capacity our supporters would have more possibility to watch the game. Now, some of them are frustrated because they cannot attend.
“Of course, everything else, like the quality of the pitch, should be at the maximum standard because it is a final. It is publicity for football in the region, and the whole of Asia.
“That is my opinion, but they have made big efforts to fix those problems. Now we are here, and we have to play here.
“It doesn’t matter which conditions – full stadium, no stadium – our target is still the same. We have to follow what we have to do and forget about all these other things.”
Olaroiu said the two finalists were unfancied to reach this point, and Aleksandar Rankovic, his opposite number, echoed that sentiment.
“I don’t think anyone in Singapore was dreaming of us getting to the ACL final,” Rankovic, the Serbian coach of the Sailors, said.
“We had that dream, but it was something we would just whisper about. We didn’t have the courage to speak about it.
“We felt we could go all the way. After we went through the group phase I thought, OK, we can face anybody in this tournament.
“It means a lot. I came here with some goals that I wanted to achieve, and the ACL final is definitely the greatest one.”
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports
