Abu Dhabi: The UAE Football Association has launched a campaign aimed at galvanising the Whites’ bid to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
It has urged football fans of all nationalities to support the ‘Together We Can’ initiative by interacting on social media with the #Together_We_Can hashtag.
A special song has been released as part of the campaign, which has received the backing of coach Mahdi Ali.
“The next phase requires everyone coming together in order to achieve the dream to be in Russia during 2018,” the 51-year-old told the UAE Football Association’s website.
“Everyone must stand behind the team and support them in all their games.”
The UAE will be bidding to reach their second World Cup after their Italia ‘90 debut when they get their year-long Group B campaign away to Japan on September 1.
They will then host the 2015 Asian Cup holders Australia on September 6, with Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand their other opponents in the group.
Ali’s men are currently training in Dubai after returning from a month-long training camp in Spain, where they played four friendlies.
The 25-man party will travel to Shanghai, China, on August 19 ahead of another friendly against North Korea on August 24.
Marwan Bin Ghalita, the President of the UAE FA, is confident that the Whites can realise their World Cup dream.
“This generation has bypassed many of the difficult stages and accomplished many important achievements,” he said, referring to achievements such as the 2013 Gulf Cup triumph by Ali’s so-called golden generation.
“I’m confident that they understand the crucial stage through which we are passing and its impact on history-making and achieving new success for the UAE football.”
Like Ali, Bin Ghalita urged football fans of all nationalities in the UAE to support the new campaign.
He said: “‘Together We Can’ is not an initiative or invitation for our faithful fans and media as well as the other institution to back the national team, but it is something more that is a complete and explicit inclination to the love of our nation. The children of Zayed do not need to be invited or motivated to support the representatives of their nation who will fly the flag of the UAE and achieve its goals.”
“We need to focus and deal carefully with each and every encounter,” Bin Ghalita added. “All eyes are on our match against Japan. We are expecting greater interaction with the campaign as the match’s date becomes nearer and nearer.
“All chances [of qualification] are equal and hopefully the support of our fans and media could make the difference.”
