UAE has ability to surprise in beach soccer cup

Dubai: French soccer legend Christian Karembeu has seen the best of both worlds. As a player he is one of the rare people to have played on the winning side at the Fifa World Cup and the Uefa Champions League in the same year. Karembeu has the charm and the poise to convince, no wonder the world governing body for the sport took him on board as its ambassador and as a member of the Fifa Football and Fifa Strategic Committees. He is also a television consultant with a French channel.

The affable 38-year-old was in Dubai to help conduct the draw for the 2009 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to be staged at Jumeirah Beach from November 16-22. Following stints with Nantes, Sampdoria, Olym-piakos, Bastia and Real Madrid - where he was on the winning side for Champions League in 1998 and 2000 - Karembeu announced his retirement in 2005 and has never looked back since, other than having a kick-about at charity matches from time to time.

GULF NEWS: What have you been up to after your retirement in 2005?

CHRISTIAN KAREMBEU: Keeping a sportsman away from his sport is difficult. I do play a bit now and then, especially in charity matches and that helps a lot.

Would you be tempted to try your hand at beach soccer?

I don't think so. I think I have done my time in football. And besides, Eric [Cantona] has already done so much to uplift this sport to its current status. We owe a lot to him and I doubt I will be able to contribute.

He has already achieved so much and we don't need to do anything further to push this sport forward. This sport is definitely heading in the right direction at the moment.

But would you still try playing beach soccer?

Maybe I will, should the sport require it. But I think if I was needed to step on a football pitch again, then this decision will be left up to the fans.

What is your assessment of the draw for the Beach Soccer World Cup?

One of the significant aspects of beach soccer is that one cannot discard any team, however small they may be. There are those that are really strong such as Brazil, Spain, Portugal and even Russia. The UAE has the ability to surprise. They have already had a good game against Brazil, so they can show the world that they can be competitive at a very high level of football. My feeling says that UAE may utilise the home advantage and meet Spain in the final.

What do you feel about the French national team's struggles at the moment?

I think their focus at the moment should be how they can qualify for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

It is never an easy task to qualify for a World Cup. So all other things must be set aside till this goal is achieved.

Do you think the squad that you were a member of was the greatest ever French team?

I think it all boiled down to experience. Most of the members in the French team were so well experienced at playing at the highest level. Most of us were playing for the best clubs in Europe and at the very top level.

What we did was bring this experience to the fore and make optimum use of it while playing for the country. All of us were also peaking at the same time, and all we had to do was concentrate on our individual game and play with our cumulative experience.

This, in turn means, that the national team will need time to re-build again.

It must be very special for you to belong to such an elite group?

Oh yes. I still meet up with my teammates whenever I have the chance. Last month we all met for three days together at a charity game. And later this year we will be together for another two weeks. We have all earned this sort of belonging, have we not?

Could you comment on the criticism of the national coach and the team then?

The criticism is part and parcel of this sport.

It has happened in many countries every time there are bad results, so France and coach Raymond Domenech have their task cut out [for them].