Mattar looks beyond Gulf Cup win

Dubai: Esmail Mattar, the UAE's star striker, says the country must excel at the AFC Asian Cup in July to show their Gulf Cup win was no flash in the pan.

The 16-team tournament to be held in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Thailand, will see the continent's best teams battle it out and Mattar thinks the UAE can make a big impression in South East Asia.

"We won the Gulf Cup and now it's a case of building on that and spreading the knowledge of the UAE team beyond this region," Mattar, 23, told Sport Xtra magazine.

"Winning it was not the ultimate target, we need to do the same in the Asian Cup. We need UAE to go forward.

'Good impression'

"We have to give people around the world and in Asia a good impression of the national team of the UAE, which I think has improved step by step.

"We must show them that us winning the Gulf Cup was not a shock result or a fluke and we need to work hard so that we can show off what type and level the players we have are."

But Mattar did add about the Gulf Cup win: "We were so glad to have been able to bring happiness and joy to the population of the UAE. That was the most important thing."

He also said he was keen on a move to a European club and that he owed a huge debt to Al Wahda club, where he plies his trade.