UZBEKISTAN 1
UAE 1
Uzbekistan: Sergeev 84’ UAE: Al Hammadi 67’
Red card: Tukhtakhujaev (Uzbekistan)
Man of the match: Khamis Ismail (UAE)
No 100 per cent record, but no great bother. Mahdi Ali's UAE team had long qualified, as had their opponents Uzbekistan, for the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia. A 1-1 draw last night in Tashkent left them clear winners of Group E. Bigger challenges lie ahead.
Not that either team treated the match for what it was, a pointless dead rubber. Ali Kasheif’s reaction to Ismail Al Hammadi’s goal was telling, the Emirati goalkeeper ecstatically celebrating by himself as his teammates mobbed the scorer on the touchline.
Mahdi Ali’s team showed in the second half that they remain a hungry group of players.
Now we await the March 26 draw for the continental championship.
The coach will, as is his nature, already be planning the year ahead. Friendlies will be arranged, training camps attended and every player individually monitored.
It would be churlish to question a team that have now gone 18 months without defeat, but Mahdi Ali will know more than anyone that qualification to a finals, and succeeding in one, are vastly different prospects.
Yesterday’s match will have left a few questions unanswered, despite a hugely improved performance in the second half.
For a start, the team’s two best players, Omar Abdulrahman and Amer Abdulrahman, were absent, and while the team have shown in the past that they can get results without them, they were clearly missed.
On the plus side is the fine form of Ali Mabkhout and the emergence of Walid Abbas, the rediscovery of 2013.
But perhaps Mahdi Ali’s biggest concern will surround the on-going inconsistency of Ahmed Khalil. The Al Ahli striker was once again on the periphery of the action as his strike partner Mabkhout continued to take centre stage.
Khalil is a Mahdi Ali favourite, having served his coach well at several age groups. Also, it should not be forgotten that it was his belated return to form that spurred the UAE’s run to glory at the Gulf Cup of Nations in Bahrain last year. Two goals against Oman and a late winner against Kuwait in the semi-final were a tantalising glimpse of Khalil’s capabilities, and hinted at genuine breakthrough.
Sadly, those interventions increasingly look more like a blip than a trend. It has been five years since Khalil exploded onto the scene at the 2009 Fifa U20 World Cup in Egypt, leading the UAE to the quarter-finals. Now 22, it is safe to say that he has not quite fulfilled his undoubted potential, with Omar Abdulrahman emerging to grab the nation’s “best player” crown that was his for the taking.
Khalil looks a player short on confidence. Worryingly, his club form, his career even, has been in decline for some time; the striker is very much third choice behind Al Ahli’s Brazilian forwards Grafite and Ciel.
It is not a healthy situation for the player or his country.
Perhaps the time has come for Khalil to contemplate the unthinkable and leave his beloved Al Ahli.
The Asian Cup will come halfway through next season, so a summer move, maybe even abroad, could just be the boost needed to reignite the career of a player with an abundance of skill.
That, along with a potential move for Omar Abdulrahman, could have a huge bearing on how the UAE perform in Australia.
In Manama, last year, the UAE needed a major breakthrough to win the Gulf Cup. In the past few days Mahdi Ali once again acknowledged that his aim is for the UAE to become one of Asia's best four teams.
Awaiting them in Australia, among others, will be the host nation, Iran, Japan and South Korea, the formidable foursome who will represent Asia at the World Cup in Brazil this summer.
Another giant leap will be needed for Mahdi Ali’s team. And for one of his favourite players, Ahmed Khalil.
akhaled@thenational.ae
