UAE coach Marwijk names probables for Serbia camp

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

The UAE national football coach announced the list of probables for the upcoming preparation camp to be held in Serbia.

An expanded list of the probables for the Serbia camp, to be held from Aug.6-13, was announced by the UAE FA on their social media platform.

The final list will be announced three days prior to the departure.

The camp will be held in preparation for the final leg of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The UAE will face a stern test from the Asian teams for a berth in the finals of the showpiece event.

The third and the final round of the Asian qualifiers will be played on Sept.2 and 7, Oct. 7 and 12, Nov.11 and 16, Jan.27and Feb.1, and March 24 and 29.

Twelve teams have made it to the third round of the qualifiers. Seven group toppers from eight groups and five best runners-up teams qualified from the second round. Qatar, who are the host country will not play the third round. As the hosts automatically qualifies for the event.

The 12 teams gave been divided into two group of six each. Group B is comprised of Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and China.

The UAE were drawn with the soccer powerhouse of the Asian Iran, South Korea, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in the Group A.

The UAE finished the second round on the top of their group with four wins form as many games. The White saw a remarkable turnaround in their fortune under the new coach Marwijk, who guided them to the third round when their chances were looking bleak.

The UAE were written off well before the second round got under way and needed to win all their matches in the postponed second round of the joint 2022 World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers to keep their hopes alive.

But the master strategist Marwijk, who charted out Saudi Arabia’s route to the Russia World Cup in 2018 had different plans. He made his intent clear by saying anything less than a victory in all the matches would put their chances in peril.

The UAE responded to the call of their coach and delivered their best when it mattered the most. They began their campaign with and emphatic win over Malaysia and set the tone for the rest of the matches in the second round.

They defeated their sternest rivals Vietnam in the last match of the second round to qualify for the third round and keep their hopes alive. Vietnam advanced as the one of the best runners-up.

The second round of the Asian qualifiers was postponed thrice before eventually being moved to the UAE after the coronavirus brought all the sporting action to a halt across the globe.
UAE has become a sought after sporting destination for hosting the world class sporting events since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The UAE have a proven record successfully staging the world class sporting event during the pandemic. A resolute UAE defied the odds and showed the world way ahead by hosting the MMA fight, which was otherwise scheduled to be held in the USA.

The successful staging of MMA fight at the Yas Island, featuring stars like Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, opened the floodgates as the UAE became a safe heaven to stage the sporting events.

The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), AFC Champions League matches, FIFA World Cup qualifier, Asian Boxing Championships and the remaining matches of the suspended Pakistan Super League (PSL) were held in the UAE.

Squad: Ali Khasif, Fahd Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Muhammad Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Walid Abbas, Shaheen Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Barghash, Muhammad Al Attas, Youssef Jaber, Al Hassan Saleh, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Mahmoud Khamis, Hassan Al Muharrami and Ali Salmin, Abdullah Hamad, Abdullah Ramadan, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Fabio de Lima, Khalil Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Cayo Canedo, Muhammad Juma, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout and Sebastien Tigali.