Obama latest to join the Al Wasl fan club

The UAE Under-17 team began their World Cup campaign with a win. The goals in the 2-0 victory over Malawi were unbelievable. One, a "30-yard free-kick" that actually was from 30 yards out and the other a chip from the halfway line.

The youngsters have followed on from their under-20 counterparts with a really impressive display that bodes well for the future of UAE football.

Illustrious supporter

In fact, UAE football seems to be on the agenda at the Oval Office as well.

It is now confirmed that Barack Obama is an Al Wasl fan. Salem Al Ka'abi is a fan of both Al Wasl and Obama.

He was so impressed by the 44th President of the United States that he decided to send him a personalised Al Wasl T-shirt. The T-shirt delivered via the American embassy has both Obama's name and the number 44 on it.

Salem got word back from the White House in a thank you letter which stated that the leader of the free world would be following the fortunes of the Dubai-based club.

I met Salem at the Al Wasl v Al Dhafra match and he is rightly proud to have raised the stature of the club.

Obama is officially a fan and the number 44 is now reserved for him alone, no other player will be wearing it this season.

Two-in-a-row

I had been waiting for the first managerial sacking of the season and then like buses two came along at once. I wrote about Toninho Cerezo last week and it proved to be the kiss of death as he was shown the door on Saturday closely followed by fellow countryman Ze Mario of Ajman.

The run of 10 defeats in 12 meant that he lasted a lot longer than some of the other coaches. I expect a few more to fall on their swords soon with Al Ahli's coach being high on the list after three defeats so far this season.

Twice as fast

You may have heard of the term Prozone in football parlance but not know what it is. It is basically a camera and computer system fitted in stadiums that tracks every player and how much distance (or not, as the case may be) they cover in a game. It is a very expensive system to fit and is normally the preserve of top European clubs.

This season though it has been fitted in a number of stadiums. This is yet another aspect of the game that has become more professional and can only serve to increase standards. I saw Prozone stats that compared Asian players to European players. The midfielder in the English Premier league ran twice as much distance as his Asian counterpart. This means all the technology will just tell the clubs to make their players run more. Technology going full circle to the old-fashioned approach.