This group of Emirati youngsters have big shoes to fill.
Tomorrow, the UAE Under 23 team kick off their campaign to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as they aim to repeat the success of the previous incarnation of this age group four years ago.
In 2011/12, Mahdi Ali led the UAE footballers to their first Olympics, the 2012 Summer Games, with a dramatic 3-2 comeback win in their last match, against Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Despite not winning a match at the London Olympics, his team gave a good account of themselves.
The UAE took the lead against Uruguay before a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford, going level with Great Britain at 1-1 in the 60th minute at Wembley before losing 3-1 and drawing 1-1 with Senegal.
That team brought the likes of Omar Abdulrahman, Ahmed Khalil, Amer Abdulrahman and Ali Mabkhout to prominence. Since then, team and manager have gone from one success to another at senior level.
The bar has been set high and Abdullah Misfir’s men play their first match in Kalba against Sri Lanka knowing a long qualification process awaits them if they are to achieve the dream of playing in Brazil next summer.
The UAE face Tajikistan on Sunday and Yemen on Tuesday in qualifying Group D.
The group winner advances to the final round of Asia qualifying, the AFC Under 23 Championship. The group runners-up could also advance.
In the final round, in Qatar in January, 15 sides will be placed in three groups of five, with the group winners securing one of the 16 places in the Rio 2016 tournament. Despite modest results in recent friendlies, the players are optimistic that, aided by home advantage, they will progress from this round.
The UAE drew their most recent friendly against Iraq 1-1, but one of the team’s star players, Ahmed Barman of Al Ain, said the score does not reflect the performance.
“There was a lot of positives to take from the match, most importantly the strength and high spirit the team showed,” he said.
“It also allowed the coaching staff to have a look at all the players in action.
“Friendly matches are there to discover the strengths and weakness. The real gains will be in the qualifiers.”
Barman was late to join the U23 squad, as were his Al Ain teammates Mohammed Busandah and Saeed Al Minhali, and Al Ahli’s Saeed Jassim. Al Ain and Ahli had played Asian Champions League matches.
Misfir received a double setback when goalkeepers Busandah and Hassan Hamzah (Al Shabab) were injured on Monday and were replaced by Ahmed Shambieh of Al Nasr and Mohammed Hassan of Al Wahda.
Despite that, defender Abdullah Ghanem, scorer of the goal against Iraq, said the team are on the right track. “The players have given the friendlies against Iraq and performed far better than the previous match against Oman,” he said.
“Both matches provided great but tough experiences, but we can do better and we will show that in the qualifiers.”
Mahdi Ali said he will be keeping a close eye on the progress of this team for the future.
“I think it’s a continuous process and a cycle,” the senior national team coach said. “You always have to think about new players, new blood in the team.
“I think I have already in the past called players who are at the moment involved in the qualification, like Ali Salmain and Ahmed Rabie last summer.”
Having presided over the golden generation of 2012, he hopes this team will provide future stars, perhaps even for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
“Of course, we are looking at this competition for the future,” Mahdi Ali said.
“When I think about adding new blood, I always think about the Olympic team as well as some other young players I see in the league which we think they can add value to the team.”
The Olympics set Omar Abdulrahman on his way to being a star and, yesterday, the Al Ain midfielder urged Emirati football fans to give the next generation their full backing.
“I hope everyone gets behind the Olympic team in Kalba,” he said in a video message on the UAE FA website. “I hope the fans show up to support the players.”
THE UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Barman, Saeed Al Minhali (Al Ain); Ahmed Shambai, Abdullah Mohammed, Hussain Abbas, Khalifa Mubarak, Fahad Hadeed (Al Nasr); Abdulrahman Ali (Al Shabab); Mohammed Hassan, Ahmed Rashid, Salem Sultan, Mohammed Abdulbaset, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Wahda); Abdullah Ghanem, Mohammed Suroor, Saif Rashid, Yousef Saeed (Sharjah); Ahmed Rabie, Sultan Al Swaidi, Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira); Mohmmed Hussain (Al Dhafra); Saeed Jassim (Al Ahli); Ali Salmain (Al Wasl)
akhaled@thenational.ae
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