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UAE football team trains for final 2010 World Cup Asian qualifiers
Hopeful squad heads to Switzerland to fine tune for last chance to make the 2010 World Cup
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:09 August 3, 2008
- UAE in action against Vietnam during a World Cup qualifying game. The team are heading to Switzerland to prepare for the final round of the qualifiers.
- Image Credit: AP
Abu Dhabi: With high hopes and great ambition, the UAE senior national team leave for their training camp in Switzerland today to prepare for the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.
"We are looking forward to repeating the feat of the 1990," Captain Abdul Rahim Jumaa told Gulf News yesterday, referring to the UAE reaching the finals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
"This generation of players have great ambition and determination to play in the World Cup finals and I do believe they can achieve that goal if they succeeded in showing their true worth in all the matches of the qualifiers," Jumaa added.
Busy schedule
The UAE compete in Group B with Korea Republic, PDR Korea, IR Iran and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Coach Bruno Metsu will join the players in Switzerland from France where he is in vacation. The training camp will shift to France on August 15 with the team playing a friendly match against Algeria on August 20 and against a French second division team three days later before returning back home on August 24.
The players will take a three day rest and gather again in Abu Dhabi on August 27 to play a friendly match against Bahrain at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium on August 29 and will continue their preparations for their opener against PDR Korea on September 6.
The UAE will host Saudi Arabia on September 10.
Squad
Rashid Abdul Rahman, Ahmad Dada, Hilal Saeed, Subait Khater, Saleh Obaid, Basheer Saeed, Abdul Rahim Jumaa, Esamil Mattar, Hayder Allo Ali, Abdulla Al Noobi, Mohammad Othman, Mohammad Al Shehhi, Faris Jumma, Saif Mohammad, Majid Nasir, Tarig Hassan, Mohammad Ebrahim, Esmail Rabie, Obaid Al Taweela, Esmail Al Hammadi, Faisal Khalil, Adil Abdul Aziz, Abdulla Malullah.
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