Abu Dhabi: Al Jazira’s prodigious young midfielder Khalfan Mubarak has been tipped to play a starring role for the injury-hit UAE as they battle to reach the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
The 21-year-old has earned a late recall to the Whites squad for the vital Group B game against Iraq in Abu Dhabi next Tuesday and could also feature in the friendly with Bahrain in Al Ain on Wednesday.
Mubarak’s call-up is reward for his coruscating early-season displays for Al Jazira, with his two assists and one goal helping the Pride of Abu Dhabi to second place in the Arabian Gulf League.
“I think that Khalfan will be a great asset to the team in this difficult next phase of the World Cup qualifiers,” Al Jazira’s first-team supervisor Ahmad Saeed Al Marzouqi told the Arabic press. “He is a talented player, is able to surge forward with industry and score goals, too. I have great confidence that Khalfan will be a star player for the team in a short period of time and be a key player when the UAE host the Asian Cup of Nations in January 2019.”
Mubarak’s recall — he made two debut appearances in June’s King’s Cup in Thailand — follows the withdrawal from the squad of the injured Al Wahda forward Mohammad Al Akbari earlier this week.
“We have been suffering injuries because of the overlap of competitions in this season,” said the UAE team manager Mohammad Obeid Hammad. “There are a number of players who are injured and suffering from stress.”
Amer Abdul Rahman, the Al Ain centre midfielder, also withdrew from the squad at the weekend and his teammate, the centre-back Esmail Ahmad, is yet to train after recovering from a long-term knee injury.
The Al Nasr striker, Salem Saleh, was added to coach Mahdi Ali’s 23-man squad last Friday, meanwhile.
Mahdi Ali’s men will expect to record a morale-boosting victory in Wednesday’s friendly against Bahrain, who are ranked 123rd in the Fifa World Rankings, 53 places below the Whites.
The match has been moved from Al Ain’s Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Stadium to Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and kicks off at 7.20pm.
The two sides’ last meeting was at the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, which the UAE won 2-1.
Of far greater importance, however, is the game against Iraq at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi next week.
The Whites currently sit fourth in Group B, in the third and final qualification phase for Russia 2018 after four games, the last of which was a 3-0 humbling in Saudi Arabia last month.
As such, victory is essential for the UAE if they are to maintain credible hopes of reaching their second World Cup after Italia 1990.
Only the top two from the final round of Asian qualifiers, which also features Group A, are guaranteed to progress to Russia, while those finishing third in Group A and Group B would meet in a bid to reach an inter-confederation play-off.
Hammad urged the UAE’s golden generation to do all they can to secure the win “which will determine our destiny” and insisted the under-fire Ali retained the faith of the UAE FA.
Iraq, meanwhile, are training in the Qatari capital of Doha after drawing 0-0 with Jordan in a friendly on Sunday.
They lie fifth in the six-team Group B, three points behind the UAE, after one win and three defeats, although they competed doughtily in all four games.
