UAE Football Association president Yousif Al Serkal has expressed his “sorrow” about Saturday’s farcically cancelled final Asian Cup warm-up match against Kuwait.
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Al Azraq withdrew from the behind-closed-doors friendly on Australia’s Gold Coast shortly before the 18:00 local time kick-off after reneging on a pre-agreed stipulation that the action would not be recorded.
The situation escalated rapidly, with newly-installed head coach Nabil Maaloul being threatened with arrest after an unsanctioned extension of a training session on the Cbus Super Stadium pitch could not be disrupted by sprinklers or match officials.
The incident was discussed at length during a UAE FA event yesterday at their Dubai headquarters where two dossiers of documents from the Asian Fooball Confederation, football associations and tour nament organisers were provided to the media as evidence to support the Whites’ case.
When asked to describe his reaction to Kuwait’s behaviour with six days to go until the UAE’s Group C opener against Gulf Cup champions Qatar, Al Serkal replied: “Sorrow. I am sorry that they missed a good preparatory match, and so did we.
“It is no joke to cancel such an important game. I believe it was even more important for them as they have a new coach and they should play as many matches as possible help him to put a hand on his team.
“It also affects us negatively, but not as much. I hope we can find a substitute match.
“We do not consider individual acts as big issues between the federations. Incidents come and go, but the relations between the UAE Football Association and Kuwait FA will last forever.”
The last-minute cancellation has left the UAE scrambling to arrange another friendly before the competition starts next week, while there could yet be legal or financial penalties incurred.
“This is the first incident which has happened to the UAE in such a way in the past years,” UAE FA acting general secretary Mohammed Hazzam Al Dhaheri said. “We will prioritise the technical issues, then we will look into the legal issues. Financial issues include the accommodation for the game.”
Meanwhile, Al Serkal insisted the delay in agreeing a new contract with UAE boss Mahdi Ali is not tied to uncertainties about his own future.
Al Serkal’s current term expires in April 2016. Reports had stated that a reluctance had emerged to extend Ali’s deal from July 2015 to 2019 as planned, because a future board may want another boss.
The administrator denied this was an issue, insisting all agreements contain mutual break clauses.
He said: “There is no big issue. The contract expires in July 2015, so we are negotiating the renewal.
“It gives us time, and gives Mahdi time. If we negotiate now and reach an agreement, then we go ahead and sign the contract starting July.
“If we don’t, then we have time to look for another coach.
“All our contracts give either party chance to terminate. If we sign now, and whoever comes next decides they don’t want that coach or Mahdi decides he doesn’t want to continue, then both sides have clauses to terminate. We have stopped the negotiations because of the Asian Cup and then we will continue.”
