For a man who has often described himself as a “football addict”, the last 10 months must have felt a bit like a prison sentence.
On Wednesday night, with the ball at his feet, Amer Abdulrahman will feel like a free man again, relishing the challenge of leading UAE’s midfield against a higher-ranked team and hoping to gain the appreciation of the home audience at Stavanger’s 16,600-seat Viking Stadion.
Read more: Amer Abdulrahman back from injury lay-off just in time for UAE national team
The UAE’s No 5, the original midfield maestro of manager Mahdi Ali’s so-called “Golden Generation”, will be the man to watch against Norway tonight.
Before Omar Abdulrahman came along, there first was Amer. He carried the UAE midfield at the 2008 AFC Under 19 Championships in Saudi Arabia, then wowed a global audience at the 2009 Youth World Cup in Egypt. A year later, he was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament as the UAE cruised to the Under 23 Gulf Cup title in Doha.
In December 2009, World Soccer magazine called Amer one of the “stars of the future” and described him as the “Zidane of UAE”.
The magazine credited him for playing a pivotal role in carrying the UAE to the quarter-finals, and applauded the youngster for his “imagination, “excellence” and “creativity”. He was described as a player “who could make a difference” to any team – accolades Amer has shown through the years since.
In March 2013, as the UAE played host to Uzbekistan in the 2015 Asian Cup qualifying, Omar Abdulrahman was ruled out through injury. Amer stepped up.
Leading the resistance in the first half as the visitors dominated, he provided two precision passes in the second session for Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout as the hosts bounced back for a 2-1 win.
A trial at English club Blackburn Rovers followed in the 2013 summer, but Amer’s progress has been blighted by injuries. First, he missed the final of the four-nation tournament in Saudi Arabia last September after an elbow in the face by Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevan George left him with a fractured jaw.
A few weeks later, he tore a cruciate ligament while playing in a practice game during the national team’s camp in Malaysia. He had struggled with a knee injury in the past, but busy with the club and country, it never properly healed.
His latest break, then, was essential and Baniyas refused to risk the future of their star by rushing his return after Amer went for surgery in Italy and then sought treatment in the UK.
He is back now, healthy, fresh and eager to make up for lost time. That is good news for Mahdi Ali and the fans.
With the two Abdulrahmans playing together in the midfield, which has not happened very often in the past, the UAE will certainly fancy their chances at both the Gulf Cup and the Asian Cup.
Tough test awaits short-handed UAE side
Adnan Al Talyani, the former UAE striker, believes Wednesday night’s match against Norway will be crucial as the team try to build up steam ahead of the Gulf Cup and the Asian Cup.
Norway, ranked No 53 by Fifa, are the first of the two higher ranked teams the UAE, currently No 65 in the rankings, will play during their ongoing camp in Austria. Their second match will be against No103 Lithuania on September 3 before the meet No 47 Paraguay on the final day of their camp, September 7.
“This match comes three months after the last international outing for the UAE lads against Georgia,” said Al Talyani, who is a member of the UAE Football Association’s national teams’ committee.
“The technical staff have been working on correcting the negatives that were revealed in the 2-1 defeat against Udinese in the warm-up, and on reinforcing the positives, the most important of which are the return of players like Amer Abdulrahman, Ahmed Ali and Ahmed Dada after their long injury lay-offs.
“Their return is good as it increases the competition for places in the team.”
Mahdi Ali, however, will have only 19 players available for Wednesday night’s match, which will be played at the Viking Stadion in the Norwegian city of Stavanger.
Al Wahda’s Ismail Matar had to leave camp after picking up a knee injury, while the six players from Al Ain – Khalid Essa, Mohammed Ahmed, Mohaned Salem, Ismail Ahmed, Mohammed Fawzi and Omar Abdulrahman – will join the team tomorrow, flying to Austria after appearing in last night’s second leg of the AFC Champions League quarter-final against Al Ittihad.
“It is true that we are missing a large group of players, who are considered influential,” Al Talyani said.
“But we have great confidence in the abilities of the players we have at the moment and we are positive they will raise their levels and get a positive outcome.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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