Sport | Football
Youths to begin title defence with match against Bahrain
Defending champions UAE youth under 17 national football team meet Bahrain in their first match in the 5th GCC youth under 17 championship which will be held in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia from August 2 to 10.
- By Sayed Ali, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:08 July 14, 2008
- The UAE youth team in action aginst Iraq youth team during the Asian qualifiers at Al Shabab Club.
- Image Credit: Atiq-Ur-Rehman/Gulf New
Dubai: Defending champions UAE youth under 17 national football team meet Bahrain in their first match in the 5th GCC youth under 17 championship which will be held in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia from August 2 to 10.
The UAE team, winners of the last championships, are holding a training camp in Tunisia in preparation to defend their title.
Five GCC youth national teams will take part in the tournament after Kuwait withdrew. The UAE's first match will be against Bahrain on August 4, the second against Qatar on August 6, the third against Oman on August 8 and the last match against hosts Saudi Arabia on the tournament's final day, August 10.
"There are no big differences in standard between the GCC youth teams. We played before with most of them. Our four matches will be played continuously without taking sufficient rest after the draw put us bye in the first day," said UAE coach Ali Ebrahim.
The UAE youth team training camp in Tunisia started at the beginning of July under Ebrahim who claimed that the players benefited from the training camp due to the good weather and the regular training sessions in the morning and afternoon.
"We began with fitness training in the first week and after that we played three warm-up matches against Tunisian teams. We beat Sphaxian academy for youth 5-1, also we defeated Megreen 3-0 and drew 2-2 with Bin Aroos," said the UAE coach.
Final preparations
The youth team will play in a friendly tournament from July 13 to 17 at Ain Drahim in Tunisia with youth national teams from Algeria, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
They will continue their Tunisian training until the 26th when they return to the UAE before leaving at the beginning of August to Abha to compete in the GCC youth championships.
The UAE team winners of the last championships are holding a training camp in Tunisia in preparation to defend their title.
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