Al Ain conclude internal camp

The Al Ain soccer team concluded their six-day internal warm-up camp on Thursday followed by a two days rest prior to their departure to Austria today for an external camp.

The squad leaves at 8am from Dubai to Austria and then to Germany for a 26-day warm up camp.

Since his arrival on August 25, Bruno Metsu chalked out an intensive training plan to monitor the players' physical and technical capabilities. The squad has been conducting rigorous training both in the morning and evening.

All the team stars including the Moroccan pro Saeed Kharazi have been taking part with the exception of Subait Khatir, Abdullah Ali and Faisal Ali, on national duty with the UAE Olympic squad, along with Shihab Almed and Ali Ahmad. All five are likely to join later on.

Al Ain mission includes 42 members headed by Hamad bin Nikhairat Al Amry, Member of the Executive Committee and Supervisor of the senior team.

The officials: Mattar Al Sahbani, manager; Bruno Metsu, coach: Ahmed Abdullah and Mohammed Al Mansi, assistant coaches: Mukhtar Al Naeli, goalkeepers' trainer: Dr Jamal Khalifa, head of the medical body, Weslav Sojka, therapist; Edmar Dasilva, masseur; Ashraf Saeed, diet supervisor; Khalid Abdul Kareem, worker and Hussain Ismail, cook.

The players: Salim Jawhar (captain), Waleed Salim, Motaz Abdullah, Zakareia Ahmed, Suod Jumaa (goalkeepers), Fahd Ali, Sultan Rashid, Salim Ali, Jumaa Khatir, Humaid Fakhir, Hilal Saeed, Musabah Salim, Mohammed Omer, Hassan Abdullah, Ghreeb Harib, Omer Ghreeb, Ali Masari, Mohammed Saeed, Amry Yousuf, Rami Yaslam, Adnan Mohammed, Hamad Saeed Al Kutbei, Ali Sultan, Mustafa Saeed, Ahmad Saeed, Issa Ghreeb, Mohammed Rashid and Moroccan pro Saeed Kharazi.

It is believed that Metsu is likely to monitor expatriate players during the external camp.

The committee assigned to tackle this issue has contacted a number of African players who are expected to join the camp in a few days.

Al Ain have signed only Kharazi so far. They need to contract two more pros, as they are to take part in the Asian Super Cup Competition.