Seven doubtful ahead of UAE's Gulf Cup opener

Abu Dhabi: Seven UAE players are suffering from injury ahead of their opening match of the 18th Gulf Cup against Oman tomorrow.

The list includes Hayder Allo Ali and Mohammad Sorrour - who missed the team's last friendly against Iran - and it is reported that they will also miss the opener against Oman.

Dr. Jalal Al Ghali, the team's physician, said that the medical staff of the UAE are doing their best to prepare all the players before the opening match.

"We are doing our best and at the moment, I believe that all the players will be ready for the opening match tomorrow," Dr. Al Ghali told Gulf News yesterday.

The other injured players are Faisal Khalil and custodian Waleed Salim.

Both also missed the Iran match.

Mohammad Omar, Basheer Saeed and Hilal Saeed were injured during the Iran friendly.

The UAE continued their preparations for the opener and trained on Monday at the Al Nahyan stadium with high morale and enthusiasm evident as top officials continued attending the training sessions to help further boost the morale of the players.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Minister of Public Works and the President of the Organising Committee of the tournament, attended the training and talked to the head coach, Bruno Metsu, and the team's captain Mohammad Omar about their preparations for the tournament.

Omar told Shaikh Hamdan that all his colleagues are ready and raring to start the competition and that they are determined to realise the dreams of their fans and win the title.

Metsu was keen not to exhaust the players and the training session did not last for more than 45 minutes.

"I don't want to expose the players to fatigue and exhaustion before their first important match against Oman," Metsu said.