Abu Dhabi: Mahdi Ali, the UAE national football team coach, insists he will remain in charge of the Whites until his contract expires in 2019 as he chases a historic World Cup 2018 qualification.
Ali, 51, has presided over a so-called golden generation for the UAE, whose under-23 team made their Olympic debut at London 2012 before the senior side won the 2013 Gulf Cup and finished third at the 2015 Asian Cup.
But steering the Whites to only their second World Cup after their Italia ‘90 debut would undoubtedly rank as his greatest achievement, Ali said, outlining his wish to “fulfil the dream of every Emirati sports fan”.
As such, the former Al Ahli midfielder insists he is fully committed to the third and final qualification phase for Russia 2018, which begins in September, a test he described as “strong and tough”.
“There are rumours from time to time about my future, ever since 2008 [when he was in charge of the UAE Under-19 team], but nothing has changed and I will remain constantly with the team until 2019,” he said as he and the UAE team prepared to leave on Monday night for the King’s Cup in Bangkok, a four-team friendly tournament featuring Thailand, Syria and Jordan between June 3 and 5.
Ali has chosen to leave all his established names at home for the event, which will see the UAE play two matches, the first of which will be against Jordan on June 3.
Instead, his 26-strong party includes a host of Olympic team members as Ali bids to inject “fresh blood” to cope with the demands of a gruelling World Cup qualification odyssey.
They begin their Group B campaign away to Japan on September 1, with the reigning Asian champions Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand their other opponents in the year-long campaign.
After the King’s Cup, Ali will take his squad to a summer training camp in Spain in July, during which they will play six friendly matches.
The UAE will then play a further two friendlies elsewhere before their Group B opener away to the Japanese.
He said he had been in talks with the Arabian Gulf League clubs to ensure co-operation between all parties over players’ release for the training camp. “We have to give emerging players a chance to participate in the team to get to know their levels, especially as there has been no room to experiment in the past games as they have been official matches,” Ali said. “So it is now necessary to inject new blood into the team.”
He predicted that the Al Nasr striker, Salem Saleh, who has scored five goals in his 11 caps to date, could push himself into strong contention for the forthcoming qualifiers.
His King’s Cup party also features exciting youngsters such as the 23-year-old Emirates striker, Walid Amber, who has scored four times in 21 appearances this season.
Meanwhile, the Al Nasr midfielder, Mahmoud Khamis, missed the UAE’s final training session on Sunday before they left for Thailand due to injury but is still expected to be fit to travel.
UAE SQUAD
Walid Amber (Emirates Club); Fawaz Awana (Bani Yas); Saif Khalfan, Khalfan Mubarak, Sultan Al Shamsi, Ahmad Al Attas (Al Jazira); Mohammad Yousuf (Sharjah); Hassan Hamza, Manei Mohammad, Hassan Ebrahim (Al Shabab); Ahmad Ali (Al Dhafra); Ahmad Barman, Saeed Al Menhali (Al Ain); Ahmad Shambieh, Mubarak Saeed, Masoud Sulaiman, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalid Jalal, Jasem Yaqoub, Salem Saleh (Al Nasr); Hamdan Al Kamali, Salem Sultan, Sultan Al Gaferi, Mohammad Al Akbari, Khalid Bawazir (Al Wahda); Abdullah Kazim (Al Wasl).
