The UAE’s troubled journey towards January 2019’s Asian Cup on home soil looks set to include Omar Abdulrahman and Ali Mabkhout after the exiled superstars were recalled for next month’s training camp in Austria.
Here, Sport360 picks through the major talking points caused by coach Alberto Zaccheroni’s 27-man squad.
IN THE GOOD BOOKS
It was an episode that rocked UAE football.
Zaccheroni caused consternation when he declined to select the celebrated pairing of 2016 AFC Player of the Year Abdulrahman and 2015 Asian Cup top scorer Mabkhout for March’s King’s Cup in Thailand.
This followed the controversial issuing of domestic bans after the duo were deemed to have broken curfew the evening before January 5’s painful Gulf Cup-final loss to underdogs Oman.
The players expected spring call-ups. Rumours abounded that Zaccheroni privately passed on them as further punishment, while public pronouncements spoke of an innocent desire to investigate other options.
A series of four low-key club friendlies and international test against Andorra – ranked 188th by FIFA, 114 places below the UAE – now await from August 1-19.
Salzburg’s idyllic countryside will provide the perfect setting to soothe any fraught relationships.
قائمة منتخبنا الوطني الأول لكرة القدم للمعسكر الخارجي بالنمسا خلال الفترة من 31 يوليو إلى 19 أغسطس استعدادا لنهائيات كأس آسيا الإمارات 2019 ..#منتخب_الإمارات #كأس_آسيا2019 #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/WnAeqTUCsF
— UAENT2019 (@uaent2019) July 27, 2018
ALBERTO’S ANDORRA POSER
Thrills and spills have come off the field during Zaccheroni’s dreary nine-month spell in charge.
A total of 10 games have been played under the ex-AC Milan, Juventus and Japan supremo. These fixtures have witnessed just three wins and – alarmingly – four goals.
Ordinarily, August 18’s denouement against Andorra would provide the chance to boost both these figures. Yet this is a side beaten only 2-0 by Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the same October that Zaccheroni was appointed.
Slip up at DAS.GOLDBERG Stadion and the knives could be produced by an expectant nation.
الإيطالي البيرتو زاكيروني مدرب منتخبنا الوطني الأول يتابع المباراة الودية بين الجزيرة و رودا جي سي من الملعب برفقة الطاقم الإداري والفني للفريق pic.twitter.com/V1TWfI8bDQ
— نادي الجزيرة (@AlJazira_uae) July 24, 2018
NO SALZBURG SHOWDOWN
The final stretch towards the Asian Cup is upon the UAE, but don’t read too much into Zaccheroni’s list.
The likes of red-hot Under-23s prospects Mohammed Al Attas, Jassem Yaqoob and Mohamed Al Akbari are deep in preparations for the 2018 Asian Games.
Anchorman Khamis Esmail – refreshed by a switch to Al Wasl – is back and winger Mohamed Abdulrahman is out. Yet much can still change in the first half of the 2018/19 Arabian Gulf League.
The Austrian hills aren’t alive with portentous sound.
📷 | لقطات منوعة من تدريب الفريق pic.twitter.com/RdhwGjMZQB
— Al Wasl SC (@AlWaslSC) July 23, 2018
