Abu Dhabi: They may have been thrashed 4-1 by Pachuca in Saturday’s Fifa Club World Cup third place play-off, but Al Jazira’s journey to get that far has arguably been the greatest achievement in international football by any UAE side.
The UAE national team has, of course, qualified to one World Cup in 1990 and the Olympics in 2012, but on both occasions they failed to get out of the group.
They’ve also made the final of the Asian Cup once in 1996 before losing to Saudi Arabia.
And at club level, UAE sides have reached the final of the Asian Champions League four-times, winning just once with Al Ain in 2003.
All of the above international or at least continental outings (the UAE’s Gulf Cup wins in 2007 and 2013 are considered regional) will surely pale in comparison to what Al Jazira has done now, however.
Not only did the UAE league title holders, who only qualified to the Club World Cup as local hosts, overcome the awe of respective Oceania and Asia champions Auckland and Urawa; they also went a goal up against Real Madrid in the semi and appeared to get another, later disallowed strike, before the Spaniards came back to win 2-1.
It will long be mused what might have been if Al Al Jazira’s second had stood and whether they could have then staved off the reigning World and European champions for another 40 minutes for what could have been the greatest shock in football history.
But regardless of this, it remains the greatest performance by a UAE side not just in this tournament but any. No other local outfit has reached the last four of any international competition (Asian Cups and Champions Leagues are continental) nor pushed one of the best sides in the world so close.
Yes there have been friendlies between local sides and big teams but nothing competitive, and nothing as big as this.
It proves where UAE football is at, demonstrating that local teams and players can, on their day, hold their own against the best in the world.
This is particularly pertinent because due to the lack of qualification to World Cups and Olympics, and in the absence of player transfers to Europe, we’re often left wondering just how these players compare. The 2012 Olympics gave us some insight, but the Real match will be a watershed moment.
What it also shows however is, that after giving everything in earlier matches, they couldn’t then keep it up to get over the line and finish third. And it’s sustaining that class consistently that makes the difference between good sides and great sides, and it’s that element of elite professionalism that UAE football just needs to work on.
