Dubai: Mahdi Ali’s first match in charge of the UAE senior team kicks off on Thursday in a friendly away to Japan in Niigata’s Big Swan Stadium from 2.20pm UAE time — but he’ll start his new role without trusted star striker Esmail Mattar.
Japan, ranked 23rd in the world and first in Asia, will pose difficult opposition for World No 120 UAE, who are 15th on the continent and without a win away to Japan since 2005.
The UAE’s task won’t be made any easier by the absence of Al Wahda striker Mattar, with Al Ahli defender Saeed Suroor, Al Ain’s Ali Al Wahaibi, Esmail Ahmad and Faris Juma also injured.
Appointed as coach last month, the former UAE Olympic team manager will hope a good display from his team will hold them in good stead for January’s Gulf Cup in Bahrain and the start of the 2015 Asian Cup qualifiers in February. Friendlies against Kuwait on September 11, Australia on October 12 and Slovenia on November 14 are also scheduled.
Alberto Zaccheroni’s Japan have named Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa and CSKA Moscow’s Keisuke Honda in their squad for the match.
However, they have dropped Wigan’s Ryo Miyaichi and J-League top scorer Hisato Sato of Sanfrecce Hiroshima as they prepare for the Fifa World Cup 2014 qualifiers. Their next friendly is against Iraq on September 11.
UAE squad: Abdul Aziz Haikal, Abdul Aziz Sanqoor, Esmail Al Hammadi, Ahmad Khalil (Al Ahli), Yousuf Jaber, Mohammad Fawzi, Amer Abdul Rahman (Bani Yas), Ali Khusaif, Khaled Eisa, Khamis Esmail, Ali Mabkhout (Al Jazira), Waleed Abbas (Al Shabab), Mohammad Ahmad, Dawood Sulaiman, Esmail Ahmad, Omar Abdul Rahman, Ali Al Waihaibi (Al Ain), Habib Fardan (Al Nasr), Hamdan Al Kamali, Saeed Al Kathiri (Al Wahda), Rashid Eisa and Ahmad Mahmoud (Al Wasl).
Japan squad: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Masahiko Inoha (Vissel Kobe), Hiroki Mizumoto (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Maya Yoshida (VVV Venlo), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Hajime Hosogai (Bayer Leverkusen), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow), Hideto Takahashi (FC Tokyo), Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo Iwata), Shinji Okazaki (Stuttgart), Mike Havenaar (Vitesse Arnhem), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nuremberg), Genki Haraguchi (Urawa Reds).
