Without 2 stars, the UAE is stronger
Omar Abdulrahman born in 1991 is a famous attacking midfielder of the UAE team, with skillful personal technique and sharp tactical vision. Omar owns a magical contract and won the title of Best Player of Asia in 2016. In the 0-1 loss to Vietnam on November 14, 2019, Omar started for the UAE.
Ahmed Khail, also born in 1991, has been a mainstay striker of the UAE team for more than a decade. He once held the record of scoring 18 goals in the World Cup qualifiers before being broken by Ali Mabkhout. To date, Ahmed Khalil has scored 48 goals in 105 appearances for the national team. In 2015, he was named Asia's Best Player.
At the end of last year, both Omar Abdulrahman and Ahmed Khalil were seriously injured, right at the time when Mr. Bert van Marwijk returned to lead the UAE team. In theory, the lack of service from the two best players in Asia, who are at the peak of their careers, has brought a big disadvantage to the UAE team.
However, with what they have shown, their absence is a bad luck for the UAE. Without 2 experienced, iconic and even powerful players in this dressing room, Mr. Bert van Marwijk had the opportunity to take the initiative to build a new attack system for the UAE team, diverse, rich in innovation and not dependent on a few stars.
UAE has no weaknesses
Since the end of last year, the strategist who helped the Netherlands reach the 2022 World Cup finals has begun to assemble a squad, focusing on combining 3 naturalized players, combining with local stars. In addition, he also boldly rejuvenated the squad.
Fabio Lima and Caio Canedo 2 naturalized players have integrated very quickly, combining well with Ali Mabkhout in attack. In midfield, Khalfan Mubarak, a left-footed player, has successfully replaced Omar Abdulrahman.
"In the first leg losing 0-1 to Vietnam at My Dinh Stadium, we were unfortunate when defender Khalifa Al Hammadi was sent off at the end of the first half. But what I want to point out is that the current UAE team is much stronger and the squad is also very different from before," coach Bert van Marwijk said before the match against Vietnam.
The Dutch strategist is not discouraged. Only 2-3 players who were present in the first leg of the loss to Vietnam have been used regularly in recent matches such as center back Walid Abbas, winger Al-Ahbabi or central midfielder Abdulla Ramadan.
The stronger UAE is clearly shown in the parameters. They scored 12 goals and conceded 1 goal after 3 matches against Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. In the previous 4 matches, the UAE only scored 8 goals, conceding 4 goals. With a new playing system and a strongly changed squad, the UAE team created a terrible attack before the match against Vietnam.
According to statistics in the 3 matches against Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, the UAE team controlled the ball on average more than 60%. They have had a total of 47 shots, including 26 shots on target, scoring 12 goals. In which, Ali Mabkhout and Fabio Lima contributed 9 goals. These are 2 players who did not play against Vietnam in the first leg.
The UAE has almost no weaknesses after what it has shown in the last 3 big wins. The only point that makes Mr. Bert van Mek sometimes unhappy is the lack of concentration and complacency of the players.
