Abu Dhabi: The UAE Olympic Team left early morning Thursday for Australia to hold a short training camp in preparation for their opening game in the Asian qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The UAE, who compete in a group that also features Uzbekistan and Iraq, take on Australia on September 21.
The UAE team is suffering from the absence of many key players including the team's captain and sweeper Hamdan Al Kamali, playmaker Omar Abdul Rahman and midfielder Habboush Saleh.
Strikers Theyab Awana, Ahmad Ali and Rashid Eisa, who are still not fully recovered, joined the team on the trip.
Ahmad Khalil, Amer Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Fawzi, Adil Al Housani, Salem Saleh and Mohammad Ahmad have also joined the team yesterday after returning home from Beirut where they took part with the country's senior national team in their match against Lebanon in the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup which they lost 3-1 on Tuesday.
Replacement
Mahdi Ali invited Al Ain midfielder Mohammad Abdul Rahman to replace injured Habboush.
"The first match is of great importance for our campaign." Mahdi Ali told Gulf News yesterday.
"We have a difficult encounter against Australia but my team is also good and if we succeeded in achieving any good result there, then that will give the players a strong motive to continue in achieving good results," he said.
"We are unfortunate to miss the services of Omar, Hamdan and Habboush in our opener but injuries are common in football and we have to use the other players and I have full confidence in all of them to do their best for their country."
The UAE's football community is hoping that the Olympic Team can reach the finals of the London Games especially after their senior national team disappointed them by almost exiting from the qualifiers of the World Cup and judging by the brilliant results of the Olympic Team since they won the Asian Youth Championship in 2008 and finished runners up in the Asian Games in China in 2010.
