Abu Dhabi: The UAE are approaching the start of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers with supreme confidence given their “galaxy of talented players”, according to the midfielder Hamdan Al Kamali.
He and his teammates are training in Shanghai, China, ahead of Thursday’s Group B opener away to Japan, where they will travel to on Tuesday.
The Whites lost their final friendly before the Saitama encounter 2-0 to North Korea last Wednesday, but were without nine key men from Al Ain and Al Nasr given both clubs’ respective AFC Champions League quarter-final engagements.
The likes of Omar Abdul Rahman, the Al Ain playmaker, have since travelled to China to galvanise the UAE’s 25-man strong squad — much to the delight of Al Kamali.
“Our current generation features a galaxy of talented players who have the capabilities, high technical skills and vast experience under the leadership of coach Mahdi Ali,” the Al Wahda midfielder said. “He knows every nook and cranny of this generation.”
Al Kamali went on to echo the sentiments of the ‘Together We Can’ campaign launched by the UAE Football Association earlier this month.
Football fans of all nationalities in the Emirates are being urged to support the initiative by interacting on social media with the #Together_We_Can hashtag. A special song has also been released.
“The dream of qualifying for the World Cup is not just the dream of the management and players, but it is everybody’s dream in the UAE to see the Whites qualify for our second World Cup finals after Italia 1990,” Al Kamali added.
His fellow midfielder, Khamis Esmail, implored supporters to turn out in large numbers to support the UAE’s year-long qualification bid.
“We can overcome all odds and qualify for the World Cup if they do,” he stressed. “We need to get a positive result in Japan next week to give us a big boost ahead of the second match against Australia in Abu Dhabi [on September 6].”
Meanwhile, the venue for the Japan game has been announced as the Saitama Stadium 2002, one of the biggest grounds in Asia with a capacity of 63,700.
The stadium hosted four matches at the 2002 World Cup, including co-hosts Japan’s opening game against Belgium.
Aside from the Japanese, the UAE will play the reigning Asian champions Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand in Group B.
A top-two finish when the campaign winds up in September 2017 will guarantee the UAE progression to Russia 2018, which would be their second World Cup finals appearance after Italia 1990. If they end up third in Group B, they will meet the same side from Group A in a battle to reach the inter-confederation play-off.
