UAE to meet Oman to prepare for Cup qualifier

Dubai: The UAE national football team will meet Oman in a warm-up match on March 19 in Muscat in preparation for their second match in the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Syria on March 26 in Damascus.

"The team will assemble on March 16 before leaving for Muscat the next day. They will play against Oman on March 19 in their last warm-up game before travelling to Syria for the World Cup qualifiers in Damascus," Abdullah Hasan, the UAE team manager, told Gulf News yesterday.

Hasan said the national team will play the Oman warm-up without the Al Wahda and Al Wasl players. "They will be busy with their clubs in the Asian Champions League. However, they will join the national team before the World Cup qualifier against Syria."

The UAE team have five players from Al Wahda: Esmail Mattar, Mohammad Al Sheh'hi, Bashir Saeed, Abdullah Al Naoubi and Haydar Allo Ali. Two players are from Al Wasl: Majid Naser and Tariq Hasan.

The UAE team manager said Bruno Metsu will select the players from the list which the UAE FA had sent to the Asian Football Confederation.

Hasan praised the players' efforts at winning the first match against Kuwait last week. "It was a good start for our team in the qualifiers. To win the first three points will be a key factor for the coming matches.

"We know that Syria won a valuable point against Iran in Tehran and it will not be an easy match in Damascus. But we have confidence in our players that they will spare no effort in defending the UAE colours," Hasan said.