Dubai: The President of the UAE Football Association (UAE FA) said that the country’s participation in the Gulf Cup later this month will be an ideal testing ground for a new breed of players by national coach Alberto Zaccheroni. The regional tournament, originally scheduled to be held in Qatar, will now be held in Kuwait from December 22 to January 6, 2018.
The 64-year-old Zaccheroni, who took over from Mahdi Ali in the middle of October, has called up at least six youngsters into his squad that is reportedly in the transitional phase preparing for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup to be held in the UAE. Zaccheroni’s start to his new assignment resulted in a 1-0 loss to Haiti in a friendly on November 10 but four days later, the UAE prevailed 1-0 over Uzbekistan in their second friendly.
“The Gulf Cup could be the best stage for our head coach [Zaccheroni] to test and evaluate these young players. From what we have seen, it looks like this infusion of young blood has brought in some new resolve within the national squad, and this can only be a good thing for sport as there will be competition for places in the team,” UAE FA President Marwan Bin Galita told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Fifth Congress of the European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians (ECOSEP) and Fifa Football Medicine Update at the Mohammad Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) at Healthcare City.
“He [Zaccheroni] has intentions of seeing how these youngsters respond, and a proper competition like the Gulf Cup can only help him here. This can very well be a crucial part of our build-up for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup,” he added.
After months of uncertainty over the staging of the Gulf Cup, Fifa President Gianni Infantino confirmed that the next edition would be shifted from defending champions Qatar to Kuwait. Infantino, who visited Kuwait on Wednesday, also lifted a nearly two-year ban that had been slapped on the Gulf nation for political interference since 2015.
“The solidarity and friendship shown by all illustrates once again the power of football to unite people across borders. The 2017 Gulf Cup will be a great celebration of football in the whole region and to have all eight teams participating in Kuwait sends a very powerful message to the world,” Infantino said.
“To mark this special occasion, it will be a great honour for me to attend the opening games of the 2017 Gulf Cup in Kuwait on December 22 and 23. This tournament embraces the spirit of sportsmanship and is a great example of the values that Fifa and football strive to spread all around the world,” he added.
“There is no doubt that timing-wise this is going to be a tight affair as we are well into our football season. But being at the tournament in Kuwait is very important for us as we need to show our support to our brethren. The lifting of the ban itself is such a huge occasion for football in Kuwait and participating in the Gulf Cup will be our way of showing them we care,” Bin Galita said.
The Arabian Gulf League (AGL) will now take a break following the conclusion of the first round of matches late on Friday. The UAE FA is yet to announce the dates for the second round. However, the last two rounds of the Arabian Gulf Cup have been slated for December 14-15 and 21-22 with the top two from each group advancing to the semi-finals. In the following week, the round of 16 for the President’s Cup will get under way with four matches each on December 28 and 29.
“There are a few tunings that need to be done and the coach and his technical team has been meeting and getting themselves prepared for their next challenge,” Bin Galita said.
“We will need to make some adjustments and I believe he will sort it out with the help of his team,” he confided.
