The UAE made a convincing start to life under new coach Zlatko Dalic as they eased to a 4-0 win over Yemen in Jeddah.
Nicolas Gimenez inspired the victory with a two-goal salvo as the national team began their pursuit of a third Gulf Cup title in confident style.
It was the UAE’s first competitive fixture since the end of last year, when they took bronze at the Arab Cup in Doha after adverse weather saw their third-place play-off against Saudi Arabia abandoned at half-time.
Cosmin Olaroiu’s reign as coach limped on for a good few months without any match action, before he vacated the post to return to club football.
While that was happening, Dalic was seeing out the final phase of a glittering stint with Croatia by overseeing his homeland’s World Cup campaign in North America.
Shortly after that concluded, he was announced as the new UAE manager, the country where his coaching credentials previously had been embossed by a fine spell with Al Ain.
The Gulf Cup is his first assignment, as it is for a number of others in the UAE set-up; Yuri Cesar and Mamadou Coulibaly, for example, were handed debuts in the starting XI against Yemen.
Only five players who started that aborted game against Saudi Arabia in December made the starting line-up for the Gulf Cup opener in Jeddah.
Given all the changes, as well as the huge gap between matches, it was unsurprising the UAE took time to find their stride.
The UAE’s travelling supporters were vastly outnumbered by fans of their opposition. Yemen’s players responded to the noise from the stands.
Despite giving away 77 places in the Fifa rankings, Yemen’s players clearly wanted to make their presence felt. They were plucky in the opening exchanges, and the UAE players initially looked rattled.
When the first goal of the Dalic era arrived, though, it was a thing of beauty. In the 25th minute, Cesar and Bruno de Oliveira exchanged quick passes on the edge of the box.
The latter threaded a neat pass through to Gimenez. The Al Wasl schemer dipped back inside a defender and hit a crisp left-footed shot in off the crossbar.
The UAE doubled their advantage 10 minutes later, when Marcos Meloni, the right back, saw his cross turned into the goal by the unfortunate Yemen defender Nader Sahal.
Yemen were showing signs of wilting, and Luan Pereira added a third in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
The one-way traffic continued after the restart, again with Meloni and Gimenez to the fore. The latter headed in a cross from the former to put the UAE 4-0 up.
The national team were in cruise control, to the extent Dalic was able to clear the bench to keep his players fresh for the bigger tests to come.
They face Bahrain next on Sunday, with their final group match against Qatar on Wednesday.
