Bert van Marwijk plans to stick with attacking formula against Iraq in Gulf Cup

After beating Yemen 3-0 in their opening game, Dutch manager insists cautious football is not an option as he looks to start every game on front foot

UAE forward Ali Mabkhout was the leading international goalscorer in 2019. AFP

Bert van Marwijk says he is thinking only of victory against Iraq in the Gulf Cup of Nations on Friday, despite having minimal time to prepare for the match.

The national team go into their second Group A game in Doha on the back of the opening 3-0 win against Yemen, when Ali Mabkhout struck a hat-trick to seal the points.

The UAE now face a dangerous Iraq side, who began their campaign with a surprise 2-1 victory against hosts Qatar, the reigning Asian champions.

Van Marwijk, appointed UAE manager in March, knows well the three-time tournament winners from his spell in charge of Saudi Arabia. Back then, he guided his team to successive wins against Iraq In qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

However, asked on Thursday if the UAE would play cautiously at the Khalifa International Stadium, or even target a draw, Van Marwijk said: "We train every day because we want to play our own game, and through that implement our own style.

“The style means I like to play offensive football every game, and every game we start to win. I will not start a game to play for a draw. I will not start a game to only defend.

“Sometimes a game asks that you maybe have to go back a little bit. I don’t hope so, but the most important is to create our own style of play.

“On one side, we need time, but I realise on the other side that we don’t get time because everyone expects results. That’s always the difficult thing for the coach. But we start every game to try and win.”

The victory against Yemen brought to an end a run of successive defeats in World Cup qualifiers for the UAE. The two-time Gulf Cup champions dominated their opponents on Tuesday, with all-time leader goalscorer Mabkhout continuing his recent fine form. The Al Jazira striker has nine goals in his past four appearances for his country.

The only negative note was an injury to Hamdan Al Kamali, which has since ruled him out of the rest of the tournament. One of the squad’s most experienced players, the Al Wahda defender would have provided an important presence on Friday against a powerful Iraq side.

Van Marwijk, meanwhile, would not be drawn as to the importance of the match in determining the UAE’s progression to the semi-finals. The top two teams from each group advance.

“You know I talk only about the next game,” Van Marwijk said. “The next game is Iraq. I know them because I played against them a few times with Saudi Arabia. I know they are physically strong, and also mentally strong.

“If you play a game against Qatar and win, you don’t even need proof of evidence: that says something about the your strength as a team.”

On whether preparations for the tie had gone well, Van Marwijk said: “There is no preparation because we have had only two days. We have to recover from the first match and then two days later to play a game. I am used to that in tournaments.

“But this is the situation. We have to deal with it; every team has to deal with it. So the preparation is more meeting with the players. We cannot do much. But we trained hard the week before [at a training camp in Dubai], so we are physically prepared for this tournament. Now we have only the tactical part.

“We really take this as a very important tournament –I think all teams do. This has nothing to do with the [World Cup qualifiers] afterwards. We are here because and we want to be here and we will give our best performances.”