Omar Abdulrahman of host club Al Ain can relate to the significance of the Hazza bin Zayed International Football Tournament for Under 17 club teams, which continues through Tuesday in the Garden City.
The Al Ain and national team midfielder recalled that he received an offer from the Spanish club Espanyol when he was 15 years old.
“I am sure that players are going to focus on playing hard in this tournament and really showcasing their talents, which will help in boosting them for potential placements in the first team,” he said.
“To our fans, we hope that they are all attending these matches to watch our young talents perform. We really value the support provided by our fans and we aim to truly put on a delightful display of football for them.
“We are confident that the support from our fans will enhance the confidence of all of us as players and really inspire the Al Ain team to bring out their best performance on the pitch,”
Al Ain fell 3-1 to Espanyol in the opening match on Thursday, with Ali Eid scoring for Al Ain, then Inter Milan forged a 2-2 draw with Egypt’s Al Ahly thanks to an 80th-minute goal by Enrico Celeghin.
Idris Kanu scored in the 60th minute to give West Ham United’s U17s a 1-0 victory over Japanese side Kashiwa Reysol, and Al Jazira, stepping in for Tunisia’s Club Africain, took a 2-0 lead over Dinamo Zagreb on goals by Abdullah Ramadan and Zayed Abdullah, but the Croatian team rallied for a draw.
UAE women rocket up Fifa rankings
The UAE women’s national football team jumped from unranked to No 73 in the world on Friday, according to Fifa, only four positions lower than Mahdi Ali’s men’s senior side.
Goals by Nouf Saleh, Shahad Jassem and Salha Rashid gave the Emirati women a 3-0 victory over Lebanon at the Aphrodite Cyprus Cup two weeks ago, also lifting them past the Lebanese, ranked No 122.
The UAE were one of six women’s teams who broke in to the Fifa rankings in March, along with Uzbekistan, Iran, Georgia and Lebanon, also from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Dominica of Concacaf was the sixth newcomer.
The highest-ranked women’s team in Asia is Japan, No 4 in the world and reigning Fifa Women’s World Cup champions. Germany and the United States are ranked one and two.
With a Fifa ranking, the UAE women are eligible to compete in continental competitions, such as the Women’s World Cup, which will be held this summer in Canada.
Also yesterday, the UAE Under 23 men's team overpowered Sri Lanka 4-0 in the opening Group D match of AFC qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympics. The host Emiratis face Tajikistan on Sunday and Yemen on Tuesday at the Kalba club, with the winner of the group advancing to the final round of AFC qualifying, in Qatar in January.
The UAE is aiming for a second men’s football berth in the Olympics, having made the grade for the first time at London 2012.
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