For Mahdi Ali and his group of players, the time has come to deliver on a long-held promise.
Since taking over as the UAE coach in late 2012, he has consistently maintained that a place in the last four in the Asian Cup is his medium-term target, with qualifying for the 2018 World Cup his long-term aim.
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His team, preparing to meet Qatar in their first Asian Cup group game, have rarely let him down. The short-term goal of Gulf Cup of Nations success was met with a title triumph in 2013.
Indeed, it is a measure of how far the UAE have progressed under Mahdi Ali that the 3-2 semi-final defeat to hosts Saudi Arabia in last year’s Gulf Cup is now seen as a disappointment, whereas a decade ago running their rivals so close would have been viewed as an achievement.
The stakes are even higher now.
Even this early in Group C, the match against the new Gulf Cup champions could end up deciding who qualifies with favourites Iran for the next round.
The UAE know they must hit the ground running. For their coach, however, things are not running as smoothly as they did in a record-breaking 2013.
There is no question that this UAE team continued to evolve under Mahdi Ali’s leadership in 2014. What also cannot be denied is that the coach has, during the last few months, faced obstacles that no one could have envisioned when that promise to the nation was made.
There have been the ongoing injury issues to Omar Abdulrahman, before and during the Gulf Cup. This was supposed to be, and could still be, the tournament that the Emirati golden boy cements his status as one of the continent’s best players. Yet there is no guarantee he will be in the starting line-up against Qatar.
Only weeks before the start of the tournament, Mahdi lost No 1 goalkeeper Ali Kasheif and replaced him with Al Ahli’s Majed Nasser, a player returning from a period of exile.
Then there was the unwanted distraction of the cancelled match against Kuwait last week in what would have been the UAE’s last friendly before today’s match. The squad’s most recent competitive action was the 1-0 win over Jordan on December 30.
A rusty performance today will have the wisdom of abandoning that match questioned again.
Even the weather has been uncooperative. Last night, the team cut short their last training session as rain continued to lash down in Australia’s capital.
To Mahdi Ali’s credit, he has taken on all the obstacles with a barely a complaint.
On Saturday, he was in positive mood. The main reason for that was sitting next to him.
In Ali Mabkhout, the UAE have a reliable scorer in the form of his life.
If he maintains the standard he showed in the Gulf Cup, this UAE team may, with or with or without Abdulrahman, just make Mahdi Ali’s promise come true.
Related content:
- In pictures: UAE in training ahead of their Asian Cup kick off against Qatar
- The Kickabout podcast: Asian Cup edition – Episode 10
- The 1996 Asian Cup: What was and what could have been for the UAE
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