News Center

The UAE National Team players start a five-day warm up camp in Al Ain

The UAE Senior National Team players have started today a five-day warm up camp in Al Ain prior to their crucial match against South Korea which is due to kick off on October 11th in Seoul.

The camp comes as part of the team's preparations for the third round match in the Asian qualifiers to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. The players conducted their first training session on Khalifa Stadium in Al Ain Club this evening under the guidance of their new technical body led by Dr. Abdullah Misfir who was appointed by the UAE Football Federation as a care taker coach to replace the team's former Slovenian coach Katanec who was sacked following UAE two successive losses to Kuwait and Lebanon.

Most of the players took part in the first training including defender Hamdan Al Kamali who suffered an injury in the UAE's match played in the first round against Kuwait, in addition to the newly selected elements Ismail Matar, Basheir Saeed, Abdullah Mousa and Juma'a Abdulla. But Diyab Awana, Musalam Fayez and goalkeeper Ahmad Mahmoud were excluded from the team due to injury. Misfir summoned Al Jazira's custodian Khalid Essa to replace Ahmad Mahmoud of Al Wasl.

Moreover six players did not train tonight including Ahmad Khalil, Ismail Al Hamadi, and Amer Mubarak from Al Ahli, Waleed Abbass and Mohammad Ahmad from Al Shabab because they are currently joining their teams' trainings who are set to play in the Club GCC Cup Championship. Both Al Ahli and Al Shabab will host Kazma and Al Arabi of Kuwait on Tuesday and Wednesday September 27th and 28th respectively. Ahmad Juma'a also did not train because he was sick.

The UAE Team will conclude their camp on next Thursday September 29th, then have a one-day rest before they fly to China next Saturday to organize a short training camp there. They are planning to play one friendly game against China on October 6Th and leave for Seoul on October 8th to face their Korean counterpart in the Asian third round qualifiers.