A dream can take you a long way. One, somehow, took the UAE’s original ‘Golden Generation’ of amateur players to World Cup 1990.
Coming from a nation then only 19-years old, they defied the odds to grace football’s grandest stage for the thus far one and only time.
An odyssey for journalist and director Ali Khaled which began around the 2010 tournament has seen him turn this underdog story into the documentary ‘Anwar Roma’ (Lights of Rome). This path took him to the prestigious DOC NYC film festival a fortnight ago and will see his work open in cinemas across the UAE – the country where he grew up – from Thursday. In alliance with producers Image Nation Abu Dhabi, the 47-year-old has set about faithfully resurrecting a tale of incredible sporting success against the odds which has not survived into the internet age.
Barely a handful of search results exist on Google, while video clips detailing the achievements of legendary Al Shaab striker Adnan Al Talyani and inspirational Sharjah attacking midfielder Ali Thani are few and far between. Speaking to Sport360 ahead of the poignant release in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah on National Day, Khaled detailed this painstaking journey to breathe new life into fading memories.
“The idea first came up just before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa,” he says. “I was looking to write a story on the 20th anniversary of the UAE’s participation in Italia 90, and it became apparent that the achievement, especially the qualification in Singapore, was a bit of a forgotten story and hugely under-documented.
Adnan al-Talyani.
“The idea for a documentary was floating around for a few years until Image Nation Abu Dhabi decided to make it a reality, and chairman Mohamed Al Mubarak played a very central role.
“My favourite memory of qualification to the 1990 World Cup was seeing people who hardly even watched football before, like my mother, getting completely caught up in the celebrations.”
Kicking off in 2014, two years were spent in production, with the majority of this time containing an exhaustive trawl through long-forgotten archive footage. Directed by Khaled and produced by award-winning documentary filmmaker Stevan Riley (Fires in Babylon, Listen to Me Marlon), a tale emerges of a near-miracle.
Matches etched into the national consciousness vividly re-emerge. These include the last-minute heartbreak against Iraq which so devastatingly denied them a place at World Cup 1986, to the celebratory scenes in the dressing room in Singapore as a little-fancied team came through a gruelling qualifying tournament to make the next main event.
Highlights of World Cup 1990 show the product of the players’ labour. These include Carlos Valderrama and his trademark curled blonde locks causing devastation in Colombia’s opening 2-0 victory in Group D, goalkeeper Muhsin Musabah’s heroics during the 5-1 defeat to eventual winners West Germany and Thani’s celebrations after planting a header in the 4-1 loss to Yugoslavia which marked the end of the UAE’s participation.
Several members of Whites squads from both before and during the competition emerge to engagingly tell their tales. They are ones of footballers whose skills were honed far away from the professional environs witnessed in football’s traditional heartlands.
“Tears got the better of me, it’s such a beautiful memory of a beautiful achievement, and a life time engraved inside me, inside my soul,” said ex-Al Shabab goalkeeper Abdulqadir Hassan, who was on the substitutes’ bench in Italy. “No one can take it away from me.”
A one-week run has been decided for cinemas, with no official announcements made yet about inclusion on streaming services such as Netflix and Apple Store. At the helm of the project are Image Nation Abu Dhabi, who are one of the leading media and entertainment companies in the Arabic-speaking world.
‘Anwar Roma’ fits into a catalogue which includes Emirati produced feature films (‘Zinzana’, ‘From A to B’), cause-driven documentaries (‘He Named Me Malala’), insightful television shows (‘Beyond Borders’, ‘Hayati Walaskariya’) television dramas (‘Justice’) and award-winning international films (‘The Help’, ‘Flight’, ‘99 Homes’).
Although reluctant to release costs and the criteria for how their latest project will be considered a success, producer Hana Makki expressed her pride at what had already been achieved. She says: “The Image Nation documentary team has the opportunity to memorialise important cultural and historical events for the UAE – and this incredible story fitted perfectly into our mandate.
“The film has already been a success in our eyes as it will document and immortalise this very special moment in UAE history.”
Abdulrahman Al Haddad (l) and Ali Thani (r).
The film comes out at an important moment for UAE sport, with the current generation hanging onto their hopes of making World Cup 2018. Al Ain playmaker Omar Abdulrahman is the star attraction for them, and he appears on screen to describe the influential role the heroes of 26 years ago continue to play.
“Like any player, international or local, of our generation or the previous one, we dream of emulating the Golden Generation and playing in the World Cup,” the 25-year-old says.
ESPN’s ‘30 for 30’ series has led a renaissance in sporting documentaries since 2009, while even Oscar winner Alex Gibney got involved in the field with ‘The Armstrong Lie’ about disgraced cyclist Lance. For Khaled, he believes there is plenty of scope for this region to continue adding to the genre.
He says: “There are some overlooked historical moments in Middle Eastern and Gulf football. Saudi Arabia qualified to four-consecutive World Cups, and Kuwait and Iraq had Golden Generations of their own.
“On a personal level, I’d love to be involved in more projects like ‘Lights of Rome’. Who knows, if the UAE qualify to Russia 2018…”
