Dubai: As the Euro 2016 is heading towards the business-end, it received it’s quota of kudos and criticism from a selection of former Arab footballers and managers in the Middle East.
Speaking to Gulf News, former UAE national team’s captains Ahmad Eisa, Abdul Rahman Mohammad and Jorvan Vieira, former Iraq national team manager and Asian cup winner, shared their views about the continental showpiece in a bigger format.
Eisa, the UAE national team’s first ever captain and Al Ahli Dubai FC’s former captain, said that the tournament has always received a great deal of interest from the UAE football fans.
“The competition was full of surprises with teams performing better than we expected,” said Al Ahli’s former Vice President.
“Slovakia were one of the teams that impressed me and proved their mettle. I believe all the teams that qualified to the 16th round fully deserved it,” added Eisa.
He said that the knockout stages show a far clearer picture as to where the tournament would be heading compared to the group stage round.
Mohammad, who captained the UAE in the 1990 World Cup, questioned if the underdogs had exceeded their expectations or if the top teams failed to deliver.
Unlike Eisa, the MBC and Al Kass channel’s sports pundit had a rather neutral, “50-50” view on the teams’ performances on the field and the scores in the Euro. “The performances were not as one would have hoped them to be,” Mohammad said.
Slow starters
“Germany have always been a fierce title contender and are the team that has impressed me so far. Even if they haven’t shown their top performance yet, they have a history of being slow starters and improve during the competition,” he added.
As for Vieira, who topped his 1986 World Cup group as Morocco’s assitant coach over England, Portugal and Poland, had a similar, positive view as Issa’s about the Euro’s group stage.
“Teams like Iceland, Wales, Switzerland and Poland performed beyond expectations and played really well which is good as they show that they can be a match for the big teams,” said the Portuguese.
The former Al-Zamalik FC manager said that the English team has not played with “this style few years ago” and that “it is a nice team with a new generation of players.”
Vieira expressed his discomfort with Italy’s style of play saying that he does not “like it.”
“Tactically, they are good, but in a defensive way. But then, football is not only defence,” he explained.
The writer is an intern with Gulf News
