It would be one of the oddest job descriptions in world football.
“Wanted: Elite playmaker to fascinate fans, exhilarate teammates and frustrate opponents. Must be available for international tournaments. Club appearances optional.”
Seven weeks to the day that Omar Abdulrahman last played a football match, for the UAE in the Gulf Cup of Nations semi-finals, he returned in time for the country's Asian Cup opener, versus Qatar.
The result? More of what we have come to expect from the national side when they include the slight young man with the big hair: a fast, open, joyful exhibition of football that unites entertainment value with scoring prowess.
It was as if Omar and Mahdi Ali’s attack-minded Emiratis opened a window to allow fresh air into a tournament in danger of turning stale after Australia’s opening victory by the same 4-1 score.
Never before had the UAE scored four goals in an Asian Cup match or won by three goals. Never before had they or their fans had so much fun at the continent’s headline event.
It was not only Omar. Ahmed Kahlil did what he often does: become prolific while wearing the national kit. He scored two, as did Ali Mabkhout, but three of those four were easy and could in part be traced to the midfielder we had not seen since November 23.
That had been the greatest unknown, ahead of the Qatar match: would Omar play?
For two weeks, some of us had been like intelligence agents from another era, poring over photos from the UAE camp in Australia, looking for the convalescing No 10.
December 24: “Yes, that is Omar, but he is walking and may be wincing.”
December 28: “There he is and he appears to be jogging lightly.”
January 2: “We see every outfield player in the team in these photos, aside for Omar.”
Not until the match in Canberra kicked off yesterday did we see him in a full-blooded scrum. Al Ain missed him for six league matches, but for the national team it was like he had never been away.
His pace might have been a bit off but the rest of his game showed no signs of rust. The steady search for teammates breaking into space. Balls popped over defenders and into the area. Back-heel passes. Preternatural skill at controlling the ball in crowds and sending it forward to a teammate.
Of tactical interest was the space Qatar gave him. He was jostled rarely and only once was he chopped down with something that approached spite, by Ahmed Abdul Maqsoud, a moment when a half-dozen Emiratis rushed to the scene, glaring at the Qataris and shoving.
Qatar’s tactics were sporting but perhaps insufficiently cynical. Some suspected, or feared, that Saudi Arabia had shown how to deal with the threat that is Omar by attacking him relentlessly, in Riyadh. They went at his legs again and again, and he limped off in the 27th minute. Surgery was mooted.
Once the UAE took the lead, on Khalil’s shot inside the far post, many expected the team’s creator would be taken off.
But Mahdi Ali left Omar on the pitch and he did a full 90 minutes. Had he come off we would have missed the joy of Omar and Mabkhout celebrating their back-and-forth passing ahead of the final goal.
Mahdi Ali’s team does not live or die with Omar Abdulrahman.
They erased a 2-0 deficit without him against Saudi Arabia seven weeks ago, but they are better and more compelling when he is on the pitch.
Let us hope he can get through this tournament unscathed and perhaps even play a match for his club, though the job description does not require it.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
