A campaign of conviction began to gain traction last week, social media flooded with messages of support. "Yes we can" became Al Ain's slogan ahead of their Asian Champions League semi-final decider against Al Hilal, and it reverberated around the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday night.
The UAE side, valiant but vanquished, may have been outdone by their Saudi rivals, yet the sentiment stills stands. Al Ain will need time to recover from a bitter setback, but the club can draw heart from an extended continental campaign. The run to the last four of Asia’s elite club competition should be celebrated, not viewed as a failure of a side talented but not quite talented enough.
For so long, the Champions League has presented Emirati clubs with little more than an uncomfortable and typically chastening experience. Not since Al Wahda’s surge to the semi-finals in 2007 had a club from inside these borders prolonged their participation as long as Al Ain did this year.
Between 2008 and 2013, only three UAE teams lasted beyond the group stages: Al Jazira and Baniyas two seasons ago, Al Shabab last term.
This year, Al Ain contested a last-16 encounter against compatriots Al Jazira. The progress is obvious.
Aside from 10 madcap minutes in the first leg, in Riyadh, Al Ain matched Hilal. They were bloodied in Saudi, but at home they responded with a gallant performance, even taking into account Asamoah Gyan’s regrettable sending off late in the match.
To a certain extent, they atoned for their capitulation two weeks ago.
In the process, and throughout the past seven months, they have offered considerable hope, too. At last, UAE clubs can look to Asia and proclaim with genuine conviction, “Yes we can.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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