Dubai: The UAE national football team coach will give his new additions adequate time to adapt as the squad continues with their preparations in Austria for their Asian qualifiers of the 2014 Fifa World Cup.
"At last we can start working as a squad from tomorrow, but before that I will have to ensure a few things so that the new players can enter the mainstream of the squad," the UAE coach Srecko Katanec told Gulf News from Austria yesterday.
Katanec has spent the last week in Austria with a handful of the senior squad members, while the eight members of the UAE Olympic team were given a few days off following their qualification to the third stage of the 2012 London Olympics at the cost of North Korea.
The UAE senior side is now preparing for their double-leg encounter against India for the Asian qualifiers of the 2014 Fifa World Cup to be staged in Brazil.
The UAE will face India on July 23 in Al Ain and then travel either to New Delhi or another venue for their return leg on July 28.
The eight Olympic team members Adel Al Hussaini, Mohammad Ahmad, Hamdan Al Kamali, Theyab Awana, Omar Abdul Rahman, Amir Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Fawzi and Ahmad Khalil were allowed a few days off after their 1-1 draw against North Korea. "They are most welcome as we can be one squad at last," Katanec observed.
"Now we can get together and train as a unit. But in all fairness, we will have to assess their fitness and see where they stand only after they get here," the Slovenian added.
"Having players with a bit of injuries is nothing abnormal, so we will have to first see what sort of physical state the new arrivals are in before taking a decision on them. But the good thing is that we get at least all of them," Katanec said.
