DUBAI // The UAE have named a squad of 27 players in preparation for the 2016 Asian Under 23 Championship in Qatar, which doubles up as Olympic qualification where a top-three finish will book a place in Rio next summer.
The team’s training camp in Dubai starts this weekend and will run until January 11, with the squad departing for Doha the following morning.
Coach Abdullah Misfir said that several friendlies will be played before the tournament starts: against North Korea on December 23, Syria on December 29, China on New Year’s Day and South Korea on January 4.
“After that, the 27 players which will be trimmed to 23,” Misfir said. “We chose 27 to make sure that some of the players who are injured will be looked at by our medical staff, and also to check on the general match fitness of the players. There are some new players who have not been with us before at all, either because they’ve been injured or because they have excelled recently with their clubs so have been added.”
The UAE’s first match in Qatar will be against Australia at Grand Hamad Stadium on January 14, and they will follow that up with matches against Jordan (January 17) and Vietnam (January 20).
The top two from each of the four groups qualify for the quarter-finals.
The UAE’s Group D is paired with Group C, meaning that Iraq, South Korea, Yemen or Uzbekistan are the possible last-eight opponents.
Misfir added that the opposition in the friendly matches had been hand-picked carefully to prepare the team for the challenges in Qatar.
“The teams we have played in the past have been top teams,” he said.
“All our coming matches are been against favoured teams as well. For example, Syria’s strong, physical style of play is close to the way Australia play. So all the team we will play are strong and will prepare the team well.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
