Dubai: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee member Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi has suggested naturalising foreigners as a quick fix to strengthening the UAE national team ahead of their 2019 Asian Cup hosting.
In an interview with Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, the former UAE Football Association (UAE FA) president, said: “The naturalisation of Al Wasl’s Brazilian midfielder Caio Correa and Shabab Al Ahli Dubai’s Senegalese striker Makhete Diop could be a quick solution to strengthen the squad before the 2019 Asian Cup.
“Many countries such as Germany, the USA and France do this, and in my opinion adding two elements to the team will make it competitive and give coaches alternatives. Naturalisation is not a defect,” he added.
The UAE have just failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. If they had been successful it would have been only their second qualification since debuting in 1990. They now host the Asian Cup in 2019.
‘The Whites’ finished second at the Asian Cup the last time they hosted the competition in 1996 and finished third in the last staging of the event in 2015.
Both Correa and Diop have never been selected to play for their own respective national teams and would have played in the UAE over five years by 2019.
