DUBAI // The UAE coach Marcelo Mendes is confident his team can overcome the disappointment of the last time the national side faced Portugal and take the host nation to the knock-out phase of the Beach Soccer World Cup.
The Europeans face the UAE on the opening day of the tournament on Monday.
With matches against Solomon Islands and Uruguay to follow, the first game could well decide UAE's hopes of clinching a quarter-final berth from their group.
Despite the stresses any manager faces before a major tournament, Mendes is sure his side can achieve a better result than the 3-1 defeat they suffered at the Mundialito de Futebol de Praia in August against Portugal, one of the World Cup favourites.
While he cannot stop himself from worrying, Mendes knows his opposite number will be thinking the same.
"I cannot sleep," said the Brazilian, who has previously coached two of the UAE's Group A opponents, Portugal and Uruguay. "We start to think about Portugal - how we should play against them, how we can stop them. But, believe me, they will be thinking the same. They know we have a good team.
"We played against Portugal in August and they beat us 3-1, but it was not easy for them. They came to the match thinking they will beat us easily, but soon they realised how difficult it is. They had to run hard and do a lot to beat us.
"Here, we are at home and they will have to run double. If they play at a normal pace, they will lose.
"After that we have Solomon Islands and Uruguay. Let's see what happens. We are very confident. We are working hard and everything is OK in the team."
The UAE face Eric Cantona's French team today in a friendly.
Yesterday, Japan dashed Iran's dream of qualifying for the finals with a 5-3 victory in the semi-finals of the Asian qualifiers in Dubai to confirm the No 1 Asian side's place among the 16 nations that will battle for the world title.
Joining Japan in the World Cup are Bahrain, who defeated Oman 6-1 for their second appearance in the tournament. The winners of today's final between Japan and Bahrain will find themselves in Group D of the World Cup, alongside Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland. The runners-up will join Spain, Ivory Coast and El Salvador in Group B.
@Email:arizvi@thenational.ae
'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
MO
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Signs%20of%20%20%20%20%20%20%20heat%20stroke
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The%20specs
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
