Abu Dhabi: The UAE coach Alberto Zaccheroni’s pain of his national side Italy’s World Cup qualification play-offs exit at the hands of Sweden would was eased with his current team registering their first win under his reign, beating Uzbekistan 1-0 in the a friendly on Wednesday.
It was a much-needed victory for the UAE, who had lost to Haiti a couple of days earlier.
Understandably, Zaccheroni was pretty pleased with the UAE’s showing saying, “It’s only my second match,” he said. “I told my players to play as a team, and to give 100 per cent on the pitch and come out with a good performance as always. We played a compact game tonight and were better organised that the first match.”
In the contest against Haiti, the UAE were out of sorts early on, but against Uzbekistan they did not let the tempo dip for the entire 90 minutes.
“We had good control in the defence with the midfield falling back in support whenever required,” he said.
“The forwards didn’t have many chances but they managed to score, which was important to win the game.
“The Uzbeks played compact with the midfield supporting the forwards and falling back in defence. We had something to learn from them tonight,” Zaccheroni also praised the lone strike by Ali Mabkhout but wanted his players to push for more success.
“He (Mabkhout) is a quality player,” he said. “To be in the right place at the right time is the hallmark of quality. I’m never satisfied with the performances. I want to see improvement all the time. What I’m saying now, I have already told my players. The players must take pride to wear the national team shirt.
“We need to take this result forward and keep improving at every game. This is the foundation for the national team. I told the players that I’m not a coach for one or two individuals but for the entire team.”
Zaccheroni went on to assert that he will look to his bench strength in order to build a strong team for future.
“I’ll be looking for new players all the time because we didn’t have many of the regulars in the two games we played,” he said. “I’ll be watching and scouting for new players and provide them the opportunities.
The Italian did not want to dwell much on his home nation’s shock World Cup play-off exit, saying, “It is a very sad day and I don’t want to talk anything more.”
