Dubai: Injured Al Wahda striker Esmail Matar was a key omission from Mahdi Ali’s 24-man squad for next month’s Asian Cup in Australia, it was announced on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old 2003 Fifa Under-20 World Cup golden ball winner had recovered from a persistent knee injury in time to play a bit-part role in the Whites’ third place finish at last month’s Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia. But he injured his neck in Al Wahda’s 2-1 Arabian Gulf League defeat to Al Ahli on Monday and will now miss the Asian Cup, which runs from January 9 to 31.
“We had hoped Esmail would recover earlier,” said coach Ali. “But the medical team are saying it will take at least three weeks, that’s why we had to overlook him.”
Meanwhile, Ali is bargaining on midfielders Omar and Amer Abdul Rahman recovering from their injuries in time for the tournament, while putting faith in some familiar faces like troubled goalkeeper Majed Nasser, midfielders Haboosh Saleh and Hassan Ebrahim and striker Saeed Al Kathiri.
“Omar is fine, after doctors’ reports, he has started jogging,” said Ali. “He needs five to seven days to get back to full fitness, Amer Abdul Rahman as well has a minor knock and should recover.
“The new players aren’t really new to the squad, they’ve been around before, and we believe they are best equipped to help the squad.”
Ali revealed the team would travel to Australia’s Gold Coast on December 23 and play two preparatory friendlies against Jordan on December 30 and Kuwait on January 1, before flying to Canberra on January 7 ahead of their opening group game against Gulf Cup champions Qatar on January 11. The Whites then play Bahrain on January 15 and Iran on January 19.
“Regarding the two friendlies, we will play our first match against Qatar — that’s why we chose Kuwait, a similar Gulf team, for the friendly. And we chose Jordan for the physical challenge.
“The ultimate target has always been getting to the 2018 Fifa World Cup and our second target is to get to the last four in Australia.”
Ali added the spirit in the camp was positive heading into the Asian Cup, despite the disappointment of failing to retain last month’s Gulf Cup title.
“The Asian Cup is more of a priority than the Gulf Cup and, over the last week, I have received three or four calls from players assuring me they are fully motivated for the Asian Cup. It’s a good sign they want to do better.”
But Ali has warned his players not to let their guard drop.
“The first game against Qatar will be key,” he said. “It will decide the path of the team. There are no easy teams in football and sometimes I give a higher priority to playing smaller teams because against the big teams the players can be relaxed, thinking it will be easy. If you enter a match complacent it might be too late to change their attitude.”
