Cairo: The UAE took part in the finals of the Fifa Under 20 World Cup for the first time in 1997 in Malaysia, where they competed in Group F with England, Mexico and Cote d’Ivoire.

The start of their task was most difficult, as they lost to Mexico 5-0 then repeated the same humiliating result against England in the second match following a hat-trick form from Danny Murphy, a goal from Michael Owen and own goal from Abdulla Abdullah Ahmad.

The team, led by Croatian coach Jurcic Sretcko, won came back strong in their last match in the group, against Cote d’Ivoire, and won 2-0 with goals from Yasir Salem and Kazim Ali to reach the second round as one of the best third-placed teamswhere.

They travelled from Johor Bahru, in the south of Malaysia where they played the preliminary round, to Alor Setar near the borders with against Thailand to face Ghana in the second round match, which they lost 3-0.

The UAE team featured a number of players who are still performing in the domestic professional league (UFL) like Abdul Salam Juma with Al Jazira, Mohammad Ebrahim with Al Nasr, Gharib Harib with Ajman, Humaid Fakher with Bani Yas, Salem Sa’ad with Al Nasr, Yousuf Mousa with Emirates club.

“We were young and lacked enough experience to face professional players from England and Mexico,” Abdul Salam JumaAbdul Salam , who’s still playing in the UFL, told Gulf News.

‘Nice surprise’

“We committed a number of silly individual mistakes specially in defence in the first two matches which led to our big defeats against England and Mexico but in the last match, we played without pressures and despite the fact that some of the players of Cote d’Ivoire were playing in Europe, we played our best match and won. It was a nice surprise to realise that we have reached the second round.”

Playing host Hosts of the Cup

The UAE failed to make it to the finals in 1999 and 2001, but they hosted the event in 2003 and were seeded as head of Group A with Slovakia, the European champions, Panama and Burkina Faso.

But theretheir opener was again humiliating, as they lost to Slovakia 4-1 with Ali Al Waheebi, the right wingback of Al Ain, scoring the only consolation goal for the hosts. The home team went a step ahead and defeated Panama 2-1 in their second match. Shehab Ahmad, the left wingback of Al Ain and Saleh Al Minhali, the striker of Al Dhafrah, scored the two goals.

The UAE finished their matches in the first round in a goalless tie with Burkina Faso to take 3rdthird place in the group behind Slovakia and Burkina Faso and reach the second round as one of the best third-placed teams.

In the round of 16, the UAE met Australia and won the match with a single goal scored by Esmail Mattar, the team’s captain  to reach the quarterfinals where they faced Colombia and lost with a single goal to finish eighth8th.

The UAE team in the tournament was represented by players who are still showing their best in the domestic league like: Esmail Mattar who was the tournament’s MVP, Esmail Rabie, the custodian who shifted from Al Shabab to Al Nasr this season, Ali Al Waheebi, Abdulla Malullah, and Shehab Ahamd from Al Ain, Redha Abdul Hadi, from Al jazira, Yousuf Jaber, Tarig Hassan from Al Wasl and Sa’ad Mubarak from Bani Yas.
Frenchman, Jean-Francois Jodar, was the head coach who took over the UAE’s senior team.

Asian Champions

The UAE will take part in the 2009 Fifa Youth World Cup as the champions of Asia after winning the title last year in Saudi Arabia beating all their opponents with their player Ahmad Khalil winning the MVP and top scorer of the Asian Under 19 Championship and finishing the year as the AFC Best Young Player in Asia.

The best part of the fairy tale of the UAE young players was that the achievement was realized under the guidance of Mehdi Ali, the Emarati head coach, who was a former striker of the UAE and Al Ahli club.

The UAE met Iraq in the opener of their campaign in the Asian Championship and beat them 2-1 before repeating the same result against Korea Republic.

Having secured their birth in the quarter finals, they trounced Syria 3-0 in their last match in the preliminary round.

In the quarter finals they met the hosts and beat them in front of more than 50000 supporter with a single goal to reach the semi finals where they trounced Australia 3-0.
The UAE won the title after defeating Uzbekistan 2-1 in the final match.

The UAE football fans have high hopes pinned to the players of their country’s team in the finals of the Fifa Youth World Cup in Egypt as the team feature some of the best gifted youngsters in the country including: Ahmad Khalil, Yousuf Abdul Rahman, Sa’ad Sorrour, Amer Abdul Rahman, Hamdan Al Kamali, the team’s captain, Ahmad Ali, Thiyab Awana, Mohammad Fayez, Mohammad Fawzi, Abdul Aziz Hussain, Rashid Eissa, Mohammad Jaber, Sultan Bargash Al Minhali, Ali Mabkhoot, Habib Al Fardan and Maher Jasim.