Sultan Adil doesn’t look much like Roy of the Rovers. But, late on Tuesday night in Riyadh, the 20-year-old striker from Kalba scripted the sort of storyline of which the Melchester Rovers ace would have been proud.
The UAE’s chances of advancing straight to a second World Cup appeared all but extinguished as the clock ticked towards 11pm in Saudi Arabia.
Deep into stoppage time at the end of a frustrating game against a North Korea side who the form guide said should be easy beats, the national team could find no way through.
All seemed hopeless. All they had needed was to claim a win – any sort of win – against this unheralded opposition to cut the deficit on Uzbekistan.
The top two sides in the group in this part of Asian qualifying go straight to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico next year. For the UAE, that would end a painful, 36-year wait for a second trip to football’s biggest stage.
Iran, as history suggested was always likely, have now clinched the first of those two berths. The UAE, meanwhile, started the day six points in arrears of the second-placed Uzbeks, with three matches to play.
Around an hour before kick off, it appeared as though all hope was already lost. Uzbekistan held a 2-1 lead in their own fixture in Tehran, moving them out to nine points clear, and as good as ensuring themselves a flight to North America.
Then Mehdi Taremi, the Inter Milan striker, popped up to score the goal which earned the point which qualified Iran, and simultaneously handed a lifeline to the UAE.
Over in Riyadh, on neutral territory for a game which was North Korea’s home fixture, the national team started out full of the optimism of a side who now believed it could be done.
Their new-look forward line – all of Brazilian origin – gelled immediately with some slick interplay, and Fabio De Lima gave them an early lead of which they were fully deserving.
All seemed to be going perfectly to plan. Then, on the brink of half time Yu-song Kim bundled in an equaliser at a corner.
While Paulo Bento gave his side some fresh tactics in the dressing room during the interval, out on his own on the field, Adil was being put through his paces by the team’s strength and condition coach.
He was set to enter the battle upon the restart, and he for good reason required plenty of limbering up.
Since announcing himself as a teenaged target-man centre forward of great substance at the turn of last year, Adil has been rarely spotted.
Following his free-scoring start to life as an international footballer, he was struck down by a knee injury. Surgery followed, but it was not a success. He went under the knife again, and has yet to feature since in club football.
Bento, the UAE coach, was as frustrated as the player himself presumably was by his extended absence. At points during the injury lay-off, the Portuguese coach speculated when we might see Adil again – if ever at all.
So central to Bento’s plans is the young striker, he was brought back into the squad for this qualifying window, almost as soon as he could walk again.
He was given some minutes as a substitute in the morale-sapping loss against Iran on Thursday night. Bento acknowledged it was a risk to give him as much as 45 more against North Korea, but by that stage, desperation dictated it was necessary.
Adil was clearly keen as soon as he entered the fray. But his first few touches – heavy and cumbersome - were a clue to the fact he has been so light on football.
Against an energetic and aggressive defensive line, though, Adil was eager. He was such a nuisance that he even took a cut to the head in a head clash in which his marker was levelled, while Adil himself played on.
It meant he played the rest of the half with a bandaged head – which was just the sort of badge of honour that his warrior-like performance warranted.
For all his industry through, it appeared he and his side were going to remain unrewarded, as the North Koreans held firm at 1-1.
Then, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, he threw himself at a cross by his inexhaustible Shabab Al Ahli teammate, Harib Abdallah.
His connection was deft, as he glanced the ball past the goalkeeper, to send the UAE ahead and spark pandemonium.
He raced away to the corner, ripped the bandage from his head, as well as the bloodied plaster underneath it which was covering the wound, and launched it.
At the corner he was engulfed by ecstatic teammates. After the bundle, he needed more lengthy treatment to redress the wound.
But it was all worth it as the UAE closed out the win which moves them to within four of the Uzbeks, who they host in the penultimate fixture in June.
“It is not easy for a young boy,” Bento said of Adil’s injury problems. “But what he did was really important. We tried to manage this situation in the best possible way.
“We gave him some minutes against Iran, then again today we took a little bit more risk by giving him more time.
“He is a player that we appreciate much, and so do his teammates. He is not just important for us in the offensive phase, but also in a defensive way.
“Now we will check what he is going to do in his club until June, then follow him, as we will with the other players, and choose the players [required for the two final matches in the group] in June.”
