Sparky’s Column

the idea of producing a brand new range of UAE Pro League music

 

People in the UAE love watching their football but not always at home. A survey by Visit Britain showed that 814,000 fans visited the country to watch the English Premier League and UAE visitor numbers were in the top 5. That is a large percentage of the population here willing to spend a lot of time and money on the beautiful game. I am sure once you take into account the fans that travel to watch Spanish or Italian games then the number is significantly higher. The game here has a fan base with significant income to spend, is this a call to the clubs to start cashing in on shirt sales and other commercial activities?

 

Last week I said we were looking at the Aussie invasion, well I was 50% right. Harry Kewell has decided to head home and join Melbourne Victory but Lucas Neil will be arriving on these shores to play for Al Jazira. He will be joining the champions for the 2011/12 campaign and has already stated his desire to continue his international career. He is looking to add to his 73 caps and has targeted playing for at least another 3 years. The Australian defender has his eyes firmly fixed on Brazil 2014 and playing in the UAE could help. The fixture schedule here is considerably lighter than most European Leagues so it should go some way to prolonging his career.

 

The UAE Under 23 side suffered their first setback on the road to the London Olympics. The significance of the loss on penalties to Oman did not register on the Richter scale of international football but the worrying aspect is the inability to score in open play. The opposition that the UAE will face in the qualifiers next year will be a lot stronger than the Oman team they came up against in Doha. The side will need to find goals from somewhere if they are to compete. The game was played indoors at Aspire, is this the shape of things to come for the 2022 World Cup.

 

Lucas Neil is an experienced player but even he won't be prepared for pre season UAE style. The warm up games in the UAE have been kicking off as late as 11pm during the Holy Month, it is almost surreal witnessing a game being played over two separate days. I remember last reason David O'Leary and Fabio Cannavaro were in a state of shock that games kicked off so late. It does leave a few of the new arrivals scratching their heads whilst looking at their watches. It is though part of the charm of playing in the Middle East, every country has its own traditional kick off times but none can ever beat the UAE's two halves over two days.