Abu Dhabi : Al Ain may be one of the best teams in the UAE football scene, but it's been six years since they last won the league title in 2003-04. During this drought period, the club still won the President's Cup three times in addition to two Super Cups and one FA Cup.
Come 2010-11 season, and they would certainly be keen to set the record straight and add one more to their record of nine league titles and 20 different domestic crowns. What's more, they have also won regional and continental titles including the GCC Clubs Championship and the AFC Champions League in 2003.
Last season, Al Ain finished third having won 14 matches — drew 3 and lost 5. They have scored 57 goals as the UFL's best attacking team while conceding 29 as the third best defence line up but their 45 points were not enough except to take third place behind Al Wahda and Al Jazira and they will enter a play off to secure their berth in the groups stage of the AFC Champions League this season.
Heavy price
Al Ain had the best start of the season last year when they won the Super Cup, as the President's Cup holder, beating Al Ahli, the league champions, but their team paid heavily for the absence of some of their best players in the UFL because of injuries and the team have suffered from many tactical mistakes that led at last to the appointment of Abdul Hamid Al Mastaki, the former striker of the club and the head coach of the Al Ain youth team as caretaker coach before giving him the job permanently at the end of the season to prepare and lead the team.
Al Mastaki has made a name for himself with the outstanding achievements for his teams in the youth competitions in the past few years which Al Ain almost dominated.
Most of the local players in the line up were his players from the youth and junior teams.
Al Ain have invested wisely in both local and foreign players. They have brought some of the best local players from different clubs to join their team including, for example, Yousuf Abdul Rahman, the custodian of the UAE Olympic team who joined from Al Ittihad in Kalba, Saif Mohammad from Al Shaab, Abdullah Malulla from Emirates club while at the same time they have Jose Sand from Argentina who finished his first season as the UFL's Top Scorer.
Though Al Ain have lost the efforts and brilliance of their former captain, Jorge Valdivia who went back to Palmeiras in Brazil and their striker Emerson who also went back to Brazil they have retained the services of their Moroccan striker Sufian Al Aloudi besides Sand and they are still looking for a third foreigner to add more strength to the team.
But even with only two foreigners, Al Ain remains one of the best contenders for the UFL title.
