As the most experienced member of the UAE squad, Ismail Matar has witnessed plenty with his national team, yet the commitment to the cause sustains.
Late on Saturday in Bangkok, as the rain beat down and another training session for Tuesday’s must-win World Cup qualifier against Thailand came to a close, the forward could be found out still on the pitch, braving the weather and the wear-and-tear of a 117-cap international career, taking part in an impromptu shooting drill with a couple of his comrades.
At 34, Matar would probably admit his best days should be behind him. However, he is focused on looking only forward, in helping the UAE get their World Cup campaign back on track, on breathing fresh life into a faltering bid to reach Russia next summer.
There is a new manager at the helm, a new regime and what everyone connected with the team hope constitutes a new era for the side. Edgardo Bauza was appointed last month as Mahdi Ali’s successor, the former Argentina national team manager tasked with lifting spirits after the double defeat in March to Japan and Australia and hoisting the UAE to a second appearance at a World Cup.
Matar's inclusion in the quest was obvious. Regardless of the fact he is coming off last month's President's Cup win with Al Wahda, the club he often captains with distinction, Matar's presence was always going to be significant. He is both well liked and a wise head, respected by all, often considered a role model. Understandably, he tells The National, he believes he still has much to contribute.
“Yeah sure,” Matar says. “For me, as a player growing up you want to represent your country. This is the best feeling you will ever feel in your life. It’s not about one city, one team; it’s about the whole country. I’m lucky to be here again, but also I have to give my maximum as usual. After that, it’s not about me, it’s about us.
“It’s the whole team and staff that makes success. This is the advice I can give to the players, that this is how football works: sometimes you will be good and sometimes you will be bad. When you are good you have to keep it at that level, and when you’re bad you have to get through it, find a solution to fix it.”
It is a particularly testing problem to solve. The UAE have ahead a difficult assignment in the final stage of qualification, placed fourth in Group B, seven points off the three teams above them with three rounds remaining. The top two teams are guaranteed a World Cup spot; the next best side must navigate a series off play-offs to join them.
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Starting with Thailand on Tuesday, the UAE need the maximum return from their three matches: victory against Thailand and victories later this year against Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Where Mahdi Ali had struggled, Bauza must straighten the path. The challenge is immediate, it is real.
Predictably, though, Matar has embraced it.
“This is what football is all about,” he says. “It’s about challenge, about motivation. If you have a new challenge every day you can easily work with yourself: ‘OK, I have to improve again’, so you improve again and take on another challenge.
“For us, it was not easy to change manager, but at the same time we have to expect it. This is what football is, what the life of a player is all about. Like at Al Wahda, we win the cup with Javier [Aguirre] and afterwards he left. So this is how it works in football.
“You have to get through whatever you face, and this is what we have to do now: just go through everything, put in the effort and to believe in ourselves. Believe in our quality and do the hard work. And, in the end, we have to get three points from Thailand.”
Matar is not expected to start at the Rajamangala Stadium on Tuesday, but he will be there nonetheless, pushing his teammates on, ready to offer something from the bench if called upon.
“This kind of game is about the players, not the coach,” he says.
“Sure, the coach will have a typical line-up, but after that the players have to perform and it’s all about us. I believe we can win this game if we put in the effort and focus, and also believe in ourselves. Because, really, we have a good team. Sometimes there is the easy way to go through and sometimes you have to go through the difficult way. We have chosen the difficult way, so we know we have to fight for that.”
Matar might display more mettle than most. There have already been many highlights since he first represented his country, since he starred on home soil at the Under 20 Fifa World Cup in 2003, since he scored the goal that secured the UAE a first Gulf Cup of Nations, in 2007, since he captained the U23 side at the London Games in 2012 – the UAE’s first appearance at an Olympics.
He was part of the squad, too, that tasted more Gulf Cup success, in Bahrain, in 2013.
Yet even at 34, even with his reduced role on the pitch, even with the 100-plus caps, the various international successes and the sparkling domestic career, one ambition still burns bright.
“I enjoy my career in football and am happy to learn every day,” Matar says.
“For me, this is learning and after I finish I will share it with my friends, with my kids. Football is a big book: after you finish one chapter, you go to another. It never ends, only when you retire. And even when you retire you learn a lot of other things.
“So I’m happy to go through this challenge with the national team again, and I hope at the end of the day we have a big celebration and go to the World Cup for the second time.
“It’s the same if you ask any player in the world what is his dream. Ask Ryan Giggs – he did everything with Manchester United, but never played in the World Cup. We feel the same: we want to be there, see what it’s like to fight for your country at a World Cup. In the end, I’d be so happy to be in Russia.”
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