UAE youngster Ali Salmeen is enjoying the step up to senior international football as he prepares for Tuesday’s clash with Armenia in Switzerland.
The 19-year-old Al Wasl midfielder was one of three uncapped players named in Mahdi Ali’s squad for their training camp in the Swiss town of Yverdon-les-Baines, which will also include a friendly against Georgia on June 3.
Although he has previously been capped at Under-19 and Under-22 levels by the UAE, his ascent to the full national side has been accelerated by a breakthrough 2013-14 season with his club in the Arabian Gulf League.
And Salmeen revealed that his new international colleagues have helped him and fellow new boys Ahmed Rabea and Yousif Saeed settle in as they hope to win their first full caps.
“They give me the feeling that I’m playing an official game while training. They are very serious and committed to their jobs,” he said.
Salmeen is considered one of the brightest prospects in UAE football, having helped his country qualify for the U-19 AFC Championship in October, and the U-22 Asian Cup last January, where the Whites reached the quarter-finals.
All 24 players included in Mahdi’s squad trained on Sunday as the coach went through his plans for the game against an Armenia side ranked 33rd in the world by FIFA, 34 places above the UAE.
Particular emphasis was placed on practicing set pieces, movement and pressing ahead of the game at the Stade de la Fontenette.
For Armenia, the game against the Whites represents the first of three friendlies in 10 days with World Cup finalists Algeria and Germany to follow.
With that in mind, head coach Bernard Challandes has named a strong squad with Borussia Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan included.
