Jodar dreams of taking UAE to 2nd round

The UAE head coach, Jean Francois Jodar, may have some worries about the side's defensive lapses, but those do not necessarily prevent him from having a peaceful night's sleep, nor do they deter him from dreaming about guiding his team to the second round of the FIFA World Youth Championship that gets underway here tonight at the Zayed Sports City with a match between the hosts and Slovakia - the Group A favourites.

"We made a number of individual mistakes, particularly in the defence, in our last friendly game against the Czechs on Friday, but those can be ignored. Every team is prone to making mistakes, but the one with the least flaws comes up trumps and we've been working towards achieving that end," Jodar said after the team's final training session before their opening engagement.

"The team has come a long way since taking part in the Asian Youth Championship last year, in Qatar, and I'm happy with the progress. I'm quite confident about the current lot and feel proud that more than six of my players have featured in the UAE Olympic and senior teams," Jodar gushed.

"We do respect the Slovaks as one of the leading European teams and their recent performances speak for themselves - beating the senior team of Oman 2-0 and then holding them 1-1 in Muscat," Jodar said.

However, he had this to add: "Our players' morale is high after the kind visits of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his bothers Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed and Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed.

"Their continuous patronage of the team has increased the determination of the players and I believe that will help compensate whatever physical disadvantages we have, vis-a-vis our opponents. We are optimistic and we have a good chance of making the second round," he added.