As has been so often the case in recent UAE football history, when the going got tough it was Ahmed Khalil who stepped up for his national team.
The Al Ahli forward has often been the man to take centre stage when his country needed him most and he was at it again yesterday.
His two goals helped inspire the UAE to come from behind to claim a resounding 4-1 win over Qatar for their biggest win in an Asian Cup finals match.
“We’re very happy with this result,” he said. “The players did not come up short today. We did not expect to win 4-1, but we played to some of Qatar’s weaknesses and, thankfully, that paid off.”
His first goal was a bizarre one, his header cleared off the line only to hit him and rebound in, but his second was a beautifully struck free kick from the left edge of the box.
“I’m happy with both goals equally,” Khalil, 23, said. “The first goal went in the way I was aiming for, but the first took a lot of effort from my teammates to get that chance.”
Khalil’s role in recent UAE successes has been well documented. He was the player of the tournament and top scorer with four goals as the UAE claimed the 2008 AFC Under-19 Championship, his two goals securing a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan in the final.
His heroics at that tournament earned him the 2008 Asian Young Footballer of the Year.
In 2009 he scored twice as the UAE reached the Fifa U20 World Cup. In 2010 he was part of the UAE team that won the U23 Gulf Cup, again finishing top scorer with five goals.
When his form dipped both for club and country ahead of the 2013 Gulf Cup, Mahdi Ali stayed loyal to his man and Khalil rewarded him by scoring twice against Oman in the group stages and then got the late winner against Kuwait in the semi-final on their way to lifting the trophy.
It was Khalil who also almost saved the day for the UAE in November’s Gulf Cup semi-final 3-2 loss to Saudi Arabia, a match that, though it ended in defeat, demonstrated the side could be a threat even without Omar Abdulrahman, who had gone off injured early in the game.
No wonder Mahdi Ali has kept faith in him through thick and thin. To the UAE coach, Khalil is so much more than just a forward that fits with his tactics, he is also a go-to man and maybe even a lucky charm.
“I’ve been working with Ahmed from 1998, since the age of eight he was with me at club level,” Mahdi Ali said yesterday, recalling their time at Al Ahli.
“He knows how highly I rate him. He is an exceptional player and always has real presence at the big tournaments.
“Whenever we are in a tough situation he’s always there, always contributing towards the good results and achievements for the national team. I am very happy with his performance and that he got man of the match.”
Khalil’s partnership with Ali Mabkhout remains Mahdi Ali’s preferred pairing up front and again his faith was repaid, the two sharing four goals.
Mabkhout played up the importance of Khalil. “Ahmed Khalil is a big player, it’s easy to have an understanding with him and to play with him, and that helped in scoring the goals today,” he said.
akhaled@thenational.ae
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