Prioritise and end the blame game

It's time for the latest instalment of that favourite pastime within UAE football - the blame game. This time it relates to the national side's failure to make any impact in the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.

Drawn in a four-team group alongside South Korea, as well as Lebanon and Kuwait, the UAE failed to secure a single point in its first five matches with the result that Italy 1990 remains the country's only appearance at the game's top table. It is a shameful statistic given the UAE's passion for the game and the resources available.

So, who is responsible for this debacle? It depends who you listen to because there are plenty of potential scapegoats. Former coach Srecko Katanec, who presided over defeats to Kuwait and Lebanon before he was sacked, as well as a scoreless three-match campaign in the Asian Cup, blames the players for a lack of fitness, and the Pro League and its clubs for failing to develop any local striking talent. The current coach, Abdullah Misfir, blames the results under the previous coach who, it has been claimed, was unpopular with the players.

Players to blame?

Other candidates include the players themselves, who underperformed woefully, something best illustrated by their 7-2 victory over Lebanon in July, just two months before losing to the same opposition. And what about the UAE Football Association? The country is just a couple of weeks shy of 40 years old and Misfir is its 31st national coach, hardly a recipe for a consistent approach.

The truth is that a combination of all these facts has contributed to this disaster and the fact they have all come together at once is the product of mixed priorities and muddled thinking.

Those mixed priorities are clear from the way the game is set up. The top players spend vast chunks of time on national duty, with many of them already having missed three of nine first-team matches this season. But at the same time the Etisalat Cup continues with matches played by shadow sides, so devaluing one of the main competitions. Also, the league insists on an Emirati-only rule for goalkeepers but the same rule is not in place for strikers.

The foreign player regulations have also changed every year since the league became professional in 2008. Back then each club could sign five foreigners although only three could play at one time. Then it went to four per team with one coming from the Asia region, then to just three and now, this season, it is back to the three plus one model of two years ago.

Lack of clarity

All this adds up to one thing: a lack of clarity on what the priority is for the game in this country. Is it the clubs or the national team? It is a question that needs to be asked because the two do not necessarily go hand in hand. If it is the league, with a view to enhancing its appeal, fine. But do not then throw up hands and complain or be surprised when the national side struggles.

The best way to determine that priority is surely a root and branch assessment of the game carried out by independent, external football experts with no vested interests and with all sides - the Pro League, its clubs and the UAE FA - agreeing to accept, act upon and, just as importantly, sticking with the conclusions for a set period to give them a chance to work.

Will that happen? Not a chance, I would say. But until it does the UAE is likely to go on suffering national disappointments and any successes like the ones by the under-23s who still have hopes of qualifying for the London Olympics, are likely to be in spite of rather than because of the system.