The likelihood of Reinaldo Rueda being appointed manager of the UAE national team seems to have lessened after his present employers said they expected him to remain at the club for another two months at least.
The Colombian, currently in charge of Atletico Nacional in his homeland, was believed to be one of two men on the UAE Football Association’s shortlist following a meeting at their Dubai headquarters on Wednesday.
The FA planned to begin negotiations immediately with the respective candidates, saying an announcement regarding Mahdi Ali's successor would be made "soon".
The Emirati, appointed in August 2012, resigned after last month's World Cup qualifying defeat to Australia.
Argentines Edgardo Bauza and Ricardo Gareca were also understood to have received significant support from various members at the FA.
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However, on Thursday, Rueda’s representative was said his client had not received any offers from potential employers, while Victor Marulanda, a club official at Atletico Nacional, said Rueda had guaranteed his commitment to the club until the conclusion of Colombia’s Primera A in June.
The UAE resume their bid to qualify for next year’s World Cup on June 13, with the qualifier against Thailand in Bangkok.
“He still has a contract for a year and a half and he is a man of his word,” Marulanda was quoted in El Colombiano as saying.
“It is transparent with all the offers that have come for him and he made them known. He tells us that he will wait for the league to finish in June, then he will evaluate the situation and will decide what course to take.”
Rueda, who has substantial international experience having managed Colombia, Honduras and Ecuador, has been at Atletico since 2015, winning numerous titles including last year’s Copa Libertadores — the premier club tournament in South America.
At present, Atletico top Colombia’s Primera A after 12 matches, although Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina’s Estudiantes in the Copa Libertadores leaves the club bottom of their group with no points from three matches.
Rueda, who originally planned to leave Atletico after last December’s Fifa Club World Cup, is said to remain confident his side can progress to the knockout stages.
“It is true that Reinaldo, thanks to his great results obtained last year, is a manager who has an interesting resume and surely will not be without some proposals, but for now there is nothing,” representative Andreas Werz is quoted as saying in El Tiempo.
“At this moment, I can assure you that Reinaldo has no concrete proposal to manage another team or national team. I have not even talked to him because there’s nothing to talk about. He is focused on his work, which has always been with professionalism. Of course, in football everything is dynamic: today there is nothing, but tomorrow is not known.”
The UAE are currently fourth in Group B in the final stage of qualification for Russia 2018, seven points off the automatic qualification spots.
With three matches remaining, they sit four points back from Australia in third, the position that gives entry into a series of play-offs to reach the World Cup finals.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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