Abdulla Al Shaheen, the UAE Under 17 coach, believes the U17 Gulf Cup in Doha will serve as an ideal platform to prepare his players for the 2016 Asian Youth Cup Qualifiers in India.
The Emirati is upbeat about his team’s chances of winning the regional competition that kicks off on Thursday night when the hosts Qatar meet Saudi Arabia in the Group A opener and Kuwait take on Oman in Group B.
The UAE will have the luxury of watching their Group A opponents in action before they meet Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The six teams are divided in two groups and the top two will advance to the semi-finals.
“This is a very good opportunity to prepare the players for the 2016 AFC Youth Cup Qualifiers, but at the same time we are here to compete for the title,” said Al Shaheen.
“All six teams are evenly matched and it will be the side that plays best on the day. So every game will be crucial to us.
“Our preparation has been a long one. We had a pool of 160 players and after many trials against the local clubs; we were able to reach to shortlist the right combination.”
Ali Saleh, the UAE playmaker, is confident of retaining their hold on the regional age group title.
“We have prepared well and played many friendlies besides the West Asian Championship in which we were able to make good results,” he said. “Our main task is to retain the title which we won in 2013 and long term objective is to make use of this competition to fine-tune the team for the AFC Youth Cup qualifiers.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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