Heavy schedule means UAE football’s golden generation risks being ‘squeezed like lemons’

Omar Abdulrahman was injured in last year’s Gulf Cup of Nations semi-final match against Saudi Arabia. Courtesy UAE FA

An international expert in football conditioning has suggested the number and frequency of matches played by the UAE’s “golden generation” may not be sustainable, saying the group could eventually be “squeezed like lemons”.

When provided a brief overview of national-team players’ appearances and injury record, Raymond Verheijen, a renowned coach who has worked as a football-conditioning consultant for a series of prominent European clubs, such as Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City, said overplaying and insufficient rest periods between matches would contribute to long-term problems.

Already, Omar Abdulrahman, Amer Abdulrahman, Hamdan Al Kamali and Rashid Essa – key members of Mahdi Ali’s various age-group sides, some dating back to 2009 – have spent significant time absent because of injury. Considered the UAE’s finest footballer, Omar Abdulrahman had two major knee surgeries before his 21st birthday, depriving him of 18 months of competitive action.

This season has been particularly arduous for the UAE national team, with dual campaigns in the 2014 Gulf Cup and 2015 Asian Cup separated by only seven weeks. Al Ain’s Mohammed Ahmed and Al Ahli’s Ahmed Khalil have featured more than most for club and country, playing 37 and 36 matches, respectively, since mid-September.

Abdulrahman’s output has been substantially less. The Al Ain midfielder, 23, was integral to his club’s run to the 2014 Asian Champions League semi-finals in September, but he did not play again in the Arabian Gulf League until February.

He returned to action for Al Ain just five days after the Asian Cup – he played every minute as the UAE finished third in Australia – and lasted an hour against Al Shabab before being substituted because of a hamstring injury. He has played one of six league matches since.

“If you look at the facts and see how many of these players already have had serious injuries, then you can objectively conclude that something is going wrong with this group,” said Verheijen, assistant manager of the Wales national team from 2011-2012. He has also assisted at major tournaments the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia and Argentina.

“We can objectively say, if this continues, then they will keep injuring these players and, at some stage, this generation will be squeezed like lemons. Then it is case closed.

“It’s very simple: if you do these things, the players accumulate fatigue, their nervous system will get slower, their body will be unprotected during explosive actions and they will keep getting injured, and the number of serious injuries with this group of players will increase until at some stage that generation doesn’t exist any more.”

Verheijen, who next week in Al Ain hosts the World Football Academy Middle East, a two-day educational event for coaches and players, cited fixture congestion as one of the main contributors to injuries.

In 2012, he conducted a survey of 27,000 matches across the world, which found that 96 hours between games represented the minimum rest period required for players to perform at peak level.

Verheijen also said the high turnover of managers in the Arabian Gulf League would have a detrimental impact on players, both physically and mentally. Since entering its professional era in 2008, there have been 119 managerial changes in the UAE top flight.

“Your body always needs time to adapt to a new way of training,” Verheijen said. “But the problem is that the coach doesn’t only introduce that, but also at a high volume, because he wants to stamp his authority on the team.

“So players accumulate huge amounts of fatigue. As a result, the players break down and get injured, sometimes seriously. Also, from a psychological point of view, players become numb or passive because they’ve been in this position so many times: new coach, new approach, new ambition, and then a few months later, he’s gone.”

Mahdi Ali, the national team coach, said yesterday the number of injuries to his players concerns him, although he said a large portion of responsibility falls on the individual.

“Injuries are a part of the game and we have to think how to avoid them,” Mahdi Ali said. “Of course, this worries me because my selection is from limited group of players because of the UAE’s population.

“But a lot of injuries can be prevented. It depends on the player himself. Even if you play a very tight schedule, with two games a week, you need to eat well, sleep well, prepare very well. The key factor is the player.”

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