Sparky’s Column

Get Your Votes In

Time flies when you are having fun and it's barely believable that another season is drawing to a close. The obsessed football fan can end up measuring his life in seasons; I am currently 40 seasons old. When another season comes to a close I tend to get a little misty-eyed with nostalgia. This season has stood out for me because of one man, Omar Abdulrahman; the little man with the big hair and a bigger future.  The excitement surrounding him is slightly different from the players who have come before. We witnessed Ismael Matar as the superstar of Gulf football for a number of years.  The hype rightly followed him for a few seasons as he scored plenty of goals and Al Wahda lifted the title. He then began to fade as all footballers do through a combination of injuries and age. The feeling behind Omar Abdulrahman is slightly more elevated. He is at a club that are title winners and have superstar foreign players like Asamoah Gyan, but most people think he is the best player at the club. That is the difference with Omar; he is already considered a star above any import into the League. I get the feeling this season has just been the first taster when it comes to what he can achieve. 

This leads us nicely onto the Etisalat Pro League Fans' Player of the Year Award.  It's a new initiative, meaning that you can have the final say in deciding the winner of one of the nine titles up for grabs at the first Etisalat Pro League Awards, which will take place on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. The voting app is on the official UAE Pro League Facebook page or you can vote via SMS if you are an Etisalat subscriber, by texting 'FP [Player's Name] [Player's Club]' to 1110. I get the feeling a lot of the votes will be going to one player in particular, but I still think there are some other candidates - you might want to consider Asamoah Gyan is the obvious challenger to Omar, as is Grafite, with the striking pair scoring 54 goals between them this season. The player that deserves plaudits despite playing for an unfashionable Ajman team is Boris Kabi. Any player who can score so many goals for a club that lies 10th in the League should be recognised in some shape or form. I get the feeling that the recognition may come in the way of a transfer to a bigger club.

Al Shabab slipped out of the AFC Champions League with a respectable 0-0 in Iran against Esteghlal.  It is always difficult to get any kind of result in Iran but the 3-0 win they needed was, as it proved, an impossible task. The bonus for Al Shabab is that they have the President's Cup final to look forward to versus Al Ahli on Tuesday. A win will see them return to the AFC competition next season with this year's experience under their belt.