KALBA // The UAE Olympic team have set their sights on clinching a berth for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio after qualifying for the Asian Under-23 Championship with an all-win record.
Having defeated Sri Lanka and Tajikistan in their first two matches, the UAE beat Yemen 1-0 on Tuesday to qualify as Group D winners for the 16-nation continental championships, which will be held in Qatar next year from January 12-30.
The top three teams at that tournament will get a ticket to the Rio Games and the UAE coaching staff is confident their team can clinch one of those spots.
“We played three matches in five days and the results are proof of our efforts,” said Noureddine Abidi, who is one of coach Abdullah Misfir’s assistants. “We finished at the top of the group, with the best attack and best defence – we conceded zero goals and scored eight.
“We had the team together for a very short duration, only three weeks, but thankfully we have managed to achieve our target, do the job that we were expected to do.”
The short preparation period did not seem to matter as the UAE started their campaign with a 4-0 win. The home side then beat Tajikistan 3-0 and needed only a point from their final match against Yemen to qualify as one of the 10 group winners.
They were determined to go through with a win, though, and Saif Rashid’s 49th-minute goal settled the issue.
Job done, Abidi is looking forward to the main event.
“We have a comprehensive programme moving forward now as our objective is to qualify for the Olympics in Rio,” the Tunisian said.
“We have a very good group. Many of our players are playing for the first teams at their clubs in the professional league.
“We are going to exploit all their qualities to achieve good results for the national team.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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