UAE footballers never gave up

Hard work and perserverance always pays. What started off as a minute dream, has now become a reality. The UAE Olympic team will indeed be heading for their first ever Olympics in London after defeating Uzbekistan in a crucial fixture in Tashkent on Wednesday night. The Emiratis had started off their campaign with a goalless draw away against powerhouses Australia. And they had held another strong team Uzbekistan to a goalless draw at home. It almost wouldn’t have been for the UAE after they suffered a blip after they lost to Iraq at home. But they were handed a lifeline after Iraq had fielded ineligible player in that fixture and FIFA, the world governing body awarded the match to the UAE. The UAE came away with a solitary goal win away before they crossed the all-important hurdle that was Australia at home, to go top of the table. And what happened on Wednesday night, in the chilly Uzbek capital will go down in UAE folklore. UAE finished with 14 points, with Uzbekistan on eight and Iraq on five. Australia finished bottom of the table with four points. The young guns should amazing fighting qualities and mental toughness during the qualifying campaign. Even when faced with soggy pitch conditions and being two goals down against Uzbekistan, these boys never gave up. The weekend had come a day early as the Nation celebrated an historic achievement, but these results never came overnight. It took years of nurturing and hard work to make this bunch of youngsters into battle-hardened players. This group of players have been together for more than eight years and the man who guided them through is Mahdi Ali. The Emirati was appointed the UAE Under-16 team assistant coach in 2003 and since then, has watched his wards scale peaks. Mahdi Ali held many hats in Dubai. He was responsible for the birth of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). He was also the brain behind the Dubai parking project and the ticketing system for the Dubai Metro. And football bosses in the country had to look no further than Ali. And he responded to the call by guiding the young guns to the title in the Under-19 Asian Cup in 2008. The team were quarter-finalists in the Under-20 World Cup in 2009, won the Under-23 Gulf Cup and finished with a silver medal in the Asian Games. And now, the UAE Olympic team would be marching at the Opening Ceremony on July 27. “When we started with this group of players, we had a vision and objectives four years ago. And one of those objectives was to reach the London Olympics. But, four years ago, this goal was a small one. Now, we have a great chance to achieve that. This is the first time in the history of the UAE that we are on the brink of qualifying for the Olympics. It is a big thing for us. It is a big thing for the players, coaches. And we should fight for this hope,” Ali had said before the fixture against Australia. Now, since they have achieved that goal, the UAE FA, along with the coaching staff, should look at even better preparations for the London Olympics. On another note, as the UAE FA searches for a permanent coach for the UAE National team, they need to look no further than Mahdi Ali. Instead of looking for big names, they have a very impressive man in Ali, whose CV speaks for itself. Also, a lot of these youngsters are already in the UAE National team and a lot more would make their way in, in the coming years. Hence, it makes sense to install Ali, who knows the players, and also plan for qualification for the 2018 World Cup. Ali was the man who saw these kids become boys. Who knows, come the 2018 World Cup, he could see these boys become men.