World Cup adventure begins here

The UAE players go through their training routine.

ABU DHABI // Tonight's friendly against Bahrain is Bruno Metsu's last chance to experiment with his UAE side before they get down to the serious business of trying to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Metsu's men take on another World Cup hopeful in a friendly at Al Jazira's Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, a week before starting the final stage of the qualification process for South Africa.

The Emirates are drawn alongside North Korea, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran in Group 2. The top two teams earn automatic qualification and the two third placed teams will battle in a playoff to join them in South Africa. The UAE face North Korea on Sept 6 and Iran four days later, with both games being played in the capital. "As it is, there is no easy way out. Any of the 10 teams can qualify for the finals," said Metsu.

"This is the ambition of all 10 countries when they go into the final round of the qualifiers. "We began our preparation with a month-long camp in Europe, which I believe has gone well, and now we want to put the players into a final test with the friendly against Bahrain. "They are a good team and they come with the same objective that we have. It's about having a good final look. The result is of little consequence, but a win will help keep morale high.

"The players want to play and put their skills to practise." Bahrain, under the Czech coach Milan Macala, are drawn in Group 1 alongside Australia, Japan, Qatar and Uzbekistan. And they have arrived with a similar aim of giving their side a final test before a showdown with Japan at home. Metsu seems to have faith in Mohammed al Shehhi to partner his more illustrious Al Wahda teammate Ismail Matar up front as he combined them with his experienced midfield of Abdulraheem Jumaa, Subaith Khater, Helal Saeed, Ahmed Dada and Haider Ali during Wednesday's training session.

Basheer Saeed will take charge of the defence, along with Ismail al Hammadi and Faris Awad as the experienced Rashid Abdulrahman may miss out because of a niggle. Saeed is playing with a heavily strapped left palm after fracturing it in last week's friendly with Algeria in France. Haider Ali did not feature in any of the three games during the trip to Europe, but is likely to be in the line-up having trained with the senior players.

"There are no serious injuries but we'll not take any chances if the players have a niggle or some sort of problems," said Metsu. They side arrived in Abu Dhabi this week after training under more conducive weather conditions in Europe, where they could train for longer periods on fitness and technical skills. Metsu has set an ambitious target of six points after the opening two group games. "The draw has been kind to us as we have to play the first two matches at home, and our aim will be to earn full points from them," he added.

"It also means more hard work and only good results can take us forward." [e-mail] Abu Dhabi Sports (ko 9.30pm)