Ali cools talk of Gulf Cup contention

Dubai: Mahdi Ali has told UAE football fans not to read too much into the country’s 3-0 friendly win over reigning GCC champions Kuwait at Al Ahli on Tuesday, insisting it was too soon to gauge if they will be in contention to win the Gulf Cup of Nations in January 2013.

Saeed Al Khatheri’s header, from Ali Mabkhout’s cross, put the home side ahead on the half-hour. Then, in the last quarter, Amer Abdul Rahman’s parried free-kick fell to Habib Fardan to score the second goal.

Walid Abbas then added the third five minutes from time, toe-poking into the top corner from Esmail Al Hammadi’s assist. It ended a comfortable first home win for coach Ali, following his debut last Thursday, when his side suffered a creditable 1-0 loss away to Asian champions Japan.

But with just four months to go until the Gulf Cup in Bahrain, from January 5-18, and the start of 2015 Asian Cup qualification thereafter, Ali wasn’t about to make any promises, despite having beaten the record ten-times Gulf champions with ease.

For a start, Kuwait’s assistant manager, Abdul Aziz Hamada, wasn’t only without seven players, but also his boss, Goran Tufegdzic, who’s still in hospital having been shot in Serbia over a land dispute with his neighbour.

“I think it’s too early to start talking about the Gulf Cup,” said Ali.

“We still have a lot of work to do and today the team played in abnormal conditions, so it’s too soon to tell.

“Under the circumstances they have shown quality that they can handle pressure in difficult conditions,” Ali added. “Theoretically a player needs an hour a day to adapt to a change in time zone. We returned from Japan five days ago and it’s a difference of eight hours. They adapted well and I’m just happy no-one got injured.”

Ali stressed getting a balance between national team players getting playing time for their clubs, as well as being made available for the UAE, was his biggest challenge ahead.

Ali said: “Co-operation between clubs and the national team has mostly been good, but a few clubs have released players late. We had only 14 players in training for these two matches, and no defenders on the bench. For a national team I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

The UAE won their only Gulf Cup in 2007, but with the crux of the 2010 U23 Gulf Cup-winning squad filtering into Ali’s team after their Olympic 2012 debut, there’s cautious hope of reclaiming the title.

The Gulf Cup of Nations is a biennial football competition that will be played in Bahrain next January.

Holders Kuwait and the UAE will be joined by six other teams: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Qatar and hosts Bahrain.