Incoming UAE boss Jorge Luis Pinto will witness a showcase of the old and new when his 36-man selection comes together for the first time later this month.
The naturalised trio of Al Nasr centre forward Sebastian Tagliabue, Al Ain attacker Caio Canedo and Al Wasl forward Fabio De Lima have been selected to make their, belated, training debuts in Al Ain from July 22-27. Several former regulars who fell out favour under Bert van Marwijk, such as veteran Boss centre-back Ismail Ahmed and Al Wahda metronome Khamis Esmail, will also be present for a European training camp from August 1-23 then international friendlies versus Jordan on September 4 and Tajikistan on September 8.
2015 AFC Player of the Year Ahmed Khalil, 2016 winner Omar Abdulrahman and 2019’s global top international scorer Ali Mabkhout were all contained in Sunday’s announcement. Oft-injured Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club warrior Majed Hassan is, also, fit enough to join them.
Pinto, 67, was chosen as the Whites’ fifth permanent boss in three years at the end of the June, replacing Serbia’s Ivan Jovanovic whose 106-day tenure was terminated without playing a game. The Colombian, who guided Costa Rica to World Cup 2014’s quarter-finals, will now undertake an intensive preparatory period ahead of the 2022 qualifying cycle’s second-round resumption in October and November, after extensive delays because of coronavirus.
The UAE sit fourth in Group G, five points off leaders Vietnam albeit with a game in hand. They face Malaysia at home on October 8, before travelling to battle Indonesia five days later.
Crunch clashes against Thailand and Vietnam, both at home, await on November 12 and 17. Only the group winners are guaranteed to progress to the third round, alongside the four best runners-up from the eight groups.
The UAE have only previously made the 1990 edition.
Pinto was last employed at Millonarios, spending a year there until exiting last November. His Honduras side was defeated by Australia in the inter-continental play-off to make World Cup 2018.
The South American is expected to land in the UAE this weekend.
PRELIMINARY UAE TRAINING SQUAD
Al Ain: Khalid Essa, Ismail Ahmed, Mohamed Ahmed, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Ahmed Barman, Yahya Nader, Mohamed Abdulrahman, Caio Canedo; Al Jazira: Ali Khaseif, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Mohammed Al Attas, Salem Rashid, Abdullah Ramadan, Omar Abdulrahman, Khalfan Mubarak, Zayed Al Ameri, Ali Mabkhout; Al Nasr: Mahmoud Khamis, Tariq Ahmed, Sebastian Tagliabue; Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club: Abdulaziz Haikal, Mohammed Marzouq, Walid Abbas, Yousef Jaber, Majed Hassan, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil; Sharjah: Adel Al Hosani, Salem Sultan, Majed Surour; Al Wahda: Mohamed Al Shamsi, Mohammed Al Menhali, Khamis Esmail; Al Wasl: Ali Salmeen, Fabio De Lima, Ali Saleh
