AFC Cup responsibility on chief coach Ali

Emirati Mahdi Ali, who led UAE to the first-ever Olympics participation in men’s Olympics Football Tournament in London 2012, has been appointed as the chief coach of UAE national team by the UAE Football Association. UAE, one of the three representatives from Asia in the London Olympics, crashed out of the group stages with a draw from three matches but they won lots of plaudits from top international coaches and players for their free-flowing attacking football. Caretaker coach Abdullah Misfir was handling the national team’s affairs after Slovenian Srecko Katanec was sacked last September due to poor results in 2014 World Cup qualification campaign where the UAE finished at the bottom of Group B in the third-round of qualification. The three-year contract will see Ali taking charge of the team in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia should UAE progress to the 2015 January finals. from:gulftoday