Late on Tuesday night, as they toasted one of UAE football’s greatest results with a late-night feed, a group of supporters were stunned to see Fabio De Lima pull up to the same McDonald’s drive thru as them.
It is unlikely any of them will have paused to question whether that was quite the type of refuelling that befits an international footballer. Quite the opposite, in fact. If anyone deserved a cheat meal, it was the national team No 10 and man of the people.
After all, the Al Wasl maestro had just been the architect of a spellbinding win over arguably their fiercest rivals. A thrashing which has totally altered the UAE’s aspirations over World Cup qualification.
Yes, they are playing catch up in their pursuit of one of the two automatic qualification berths on offer at this stage of the competition. But their 5-0 annihilation of Qatar at the Al Nahyan Stadium has got everyone dreaming it is possible again.
They remain three points behind second-placed Uzbekistan, but the onslaught against Qatar means they have the best goal difference of any side in the group, table-topping Iran included.
They might hope they can bottle the spirit they have built up via a 3-0 win over Kyrgyzstan on Thursday and then the trouncing of Qatar, and uncork it again when they return to the cause in four months’ time.
Their next assignments, away against Iran then North Korea in March, will be just as vital to their chances of a top-two finish. Ahead of the lengthy break, they have done all they can to get themselves back into the mix.
“I want to say 'mabrook' to my team,” De Lima said. “I think we played a very good match, and it was very important we took three points. It was the most important thing from this match because it means we can continue to fight towards our goal.
“Of course, we stay in third position, but we have four games left in the competition. Our team played very well in the first half and in the second half we controlled the match.
“We made an amazing match, and we should continue with this spirit. If we can do that, we have a chance to reach our goal.”
De Lima’s four-goal haul against Qatar was remarkable. He profited largely from the industry of his two young attacking colleagues, Yahya Al Ghassani and Harib Abdallah.
The former created the opener and the last of them, first with a run and cross down the left flank, and later with the turn of speed which earned De Lima the second of his two penalties.
Abdallah, for his part, was fouled twice, earning the penalty then the free kick with which De Lima completed an extraordinary first-half hat-trick.
“Of course I’m very happy to score four goals, it’s amazing, but in general I am very happy to win against the Qatari team,” De Lima said.
“If we were to win 1-0 or 2-0 against them and I had scored a goal, of course I would be very happy. Our goal was just to win against Qatar because it is key to us continuing in this competition. OK, I scored four goals, but two were penalties. Al Ghassani gave me the chance to score.
“The more important thing is that we win the three points. I think everyone is happy about the result but the result doesn’t push us to the World Cup. It just gives us three points. We need to continue to fight and show this spirit to reach our goal in the future.”
The landmark success at Al Nahyan Stadium meant the UAE have completed a double over their Arabian Gulf neighbours in this round of World Cup qualifying.
Over the course of the games in Doha in September and Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the national team conceded just once, and scored eight goals. It is a remarkable feat, given that Qatar are back-to-back Asian Cup winners, and have had a dominant record over the UAE in the recent past.
Paulo Bento, the UAE coach, congratulated his players on their fine win, but said they have to remain humble if they are to earn the ultimate prize of a trip to the World Cup in North America in two years’ time.
“At a moment like this it is normal that some people are really happy and sometimes out of control,” Bento said.
“It is important we keep calm and be humble. That is the most important for us. They know how we as a technical staff think. We faced a very good team, with very good players, who are well managed, and that have very good principles.
“We tried to choose the best strategy to control their best features and at the same time exploit their weakness. For this, the responsibility is with the guys.
“They accomplished the game plan in the best way. We talked about that yesterday, that it would be difficult to predict how Qatar could play, which tactical system they can use. They changed a little bit compared to the game in September, and the guys adapted.”
