Abu Dhabi: The players of the UAE Olympic football team have promised to do their very best at the London Games this summer, bringing honour to their country in the world's biggest sporting event.
Their promise came during the honouring of the players by Shaikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Honourary President of the UAE FA and President of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, at the Abu Dhabi Armed Forces Officers Club on Thursday.
Shaikh Hazza distributed the rewards of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, to the team after they became the first UAE football team to qualify for an Olympic Games. Each player got Dh500,000.
"Our country have a debit and our leaders have always rewarded the youth who achieve victories for the country. We are proud to be among these honoured and we promise to do our very best in the Olympic Games in London and to leave a good impression about our country there," striker Ali Mabkhoot told Gulf News.
Midfielder Mohammad Fawzi added: "We are overjoyed to play in the first group with the hosts, Britain, because that means we will play in Wembley Stadium, the most famous football ground in the whole world. Just playing in that stadium is a big achievement in itself and a dream for all footballers of the world."
Amer Abdul Rahman said: "I believe the group is strong, but we have confidence in ourselves and we have played against some of the world's best teams in the final of the Fifa Youth World Cup in Egypt in 2009, when we were under 20.
"We will be regarded as outsiders and that will be good for us because we will play without pressures and believe me we have players who can win matches."
The UAE will compete in Group A with Great Britain, Senegal and Uruguay.
"This group of players have always proved to be winners. Since they were under 17 they started winning titles whether regional, continental or even international," Mutrif Al Shamis, the team's manager, told Gulf News.
"I am lucky to have worked with them since the beginning and have enjoyed winning the GCC Junior Championship, the Asian Youth Championship, playing in the finals of the Fifa Youth World Cup, winning the silver medal of the Asian Games and winning the GCC Under-23 Championship, before capping all that by winning promotion to the finals of the Olympic Games from a group that featured some of Asia's strongest teams like Australia, Uzbekistan and Iraq.
"We will not ask them to win something in the Olympic Games because just being there is an achievement, but we are confident that they will do their best and I do believe that their best will be enough to go further in the competition."
