Sport | Football
UAE out of World Cup reckoning
A single goal by former Al Ahli player Ali Karimi brought an end to UAE's campaign in the 2010 World Cup Asian qualifiers on Wednesday night at Azadi Stadium, Tehran.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:04 June 11, 2009
- Iran's Hussain Kaebi (left) fights to grab the ball from UAE's Walid Al Balooshi during their 2010 Fifa World Cupqualifying soccer match in Tehran.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Abu Dhabi: A single goal by former Al Ahli player Ali Karimi brought an end to UAE's campaign in the 2010 World Cup Asian qualifiers on Wednesday night at Azadi Stadium, Tehran.
It was the country's worst show in the Fifa event since their participation in the qualifiers in the 1986 World Cup.
The UAE, who made it to the finals only in their second attempt in 1990 in Italy, seem to have faced problems at all levels. An important factor which led to their early exit and failure to win more than a single point in eight matches was defeats in their first two games.
Despite both matches being played at home, the UAE lost to North Korea as they regarded them as pushovers, and Saudi Arabia, a team they were confident of beating at home.
Two defeats within four days had already caused considerable damage, and to add to their woes, head coach, Bruno Metsu resigned. His assistant Dominique Bathenay took over, but he too continued to apply the same strategies as Metsu, despite criticism by the public for their poor performance.
Bathenay, who knew that his position was temporary, was not willing to gamble with new ideas. He could not motivate the team enough or experiment with style. This rubbed off on the players and affected their performance and they lost all hopes of reaching the finals.
Bathenay also failed to find a solution for the team's vulnerability in the defence which seems to have resulted in most goals. Defenders scoring self goals and committing silly errors became a regular feature. These mistakes were commited in the game against South Korea when two goals were scored as a result of lapses in defence.
Injuries were another major concern. In their last match, they missed the services of captain, Abdul Rahim Juma, Esmail Mattar, Faisal Khalil and Esmail Al Hammadi. Key player such as Hilal Saeed, Subait Khater, Ali Abbass and Ahmad Dada could not play due to suspensions.
But the only bright side to all this was the emergence of new talent. Mahmoud Khamis, Salim Masoud, Abdullah Mousa, Sultan Bragash got a chance to show their true worth.
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