Dubai: UAE coach Edgardo Bauza said the Whites would have had a better chance of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup had he taken charge earlier, after a 1-0 defeat away to Iraq in Jordan on Tuesday ended their Road to Russia.
In this final round of group matches, the UAE needed to beat Iraq heavily while hoping teams above them – Saudi Arabia and Australia – lost just as heavily at home to Japan and Thailand, respectively.
In the end though neither happened, with the UAE losing, and both Saudi and Australia registering wins.
It was Bauza’s third qualifier in charge since taking over from Mahdi Ali in May. He drew his first game 1-1 away to Thailand in June and beat Saudi 2-1 at home last week.
With more preparation however, they may have beaten Thailand and come into this final game with more to play for.
“If I had started training earlier I would have had a great opportunity of qualifying for the World Cup in Russia,” said Bauza.
His comments come after his predecessor Mahdi Ali reportedly offered his resignation after the 3-0 defeat away to Saudi last October, a full three games before it was finally accepted after the 2-0 defeat away to Australia in March.
Bauza was still coach of Argentina up until early April until getting sacked by the Albiceleste after eight games in charge. But the point remains that the 59-year-old Argentine wasn’t installed as UAE coach until early May, and didn’t start training with the team until 12 days before the Thailand game in June.
In all, it took 44 days from the point of Ali’s resignation to appoint Bauza and a further 19 days before Bauza could start training with the UAE.
“I took the reins in a tight period, and hadn’t seen any games in the local league.”
That unfamiliarity led him to pick a largely unchanged squad from the team selected by Ali. From now on though, he said, he would be more experimental as he builds a team for the future.
“In the next phase I will depend on all elements who shine and stand out in the local league and the doors are open to all.
“I seek to build a strong team and prepare it for the challenges ahead, starting with the Gulf Cup and then the Asian Cup.”
The Asian Cup will be held in the UAE in 2019, but before that the Gulf Cup was meant to be held in Qatar this December. Due to the ongoing political dispute involving Qatar however, it remains to be seen if this tournament will still go ahead as planned.
On the whole, he said, the UAE still had potential. “The mentality of Emirati players is no different to Argentinians but the only drawback is that they don’t have the same composition as South Americans, because they started professionalism late and that is a great obstacle.”
UAE striker Ahmad Khalil said: “We have to focus on the next stage, what has recently come to an end is now in the past. Lessons must be learned and reversed in the near future, we have distinctive elements but must vigorously come back to achieve all that we aspire to do.”
