CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA // Mahdi Ali batted away suggestions that the UAE's second Asian Cup match against Bahrain was a formality after the form his team showed in disposing of Qatar so emphatically in their first match.
He also said he did not believe that familiarity with a fellow Gulf nation would have any bearing on the outcome in the Thursday match.
"I think we learned in football that nothing is easy," the UAE coach said Wednesday. "Football knows only one language, the language of excellence and giving the maximum effort on the pitch."
A win against Bahrain, coupled with a draw or a Qatar loss against Iran, would guarantee progress to the last eight for the UAE on Thursday with their final Group C match, against Iran, still to be played.
Do not expect to catch Mahdi Ali looking ahead, though. His focus is on today and that alone.
“For us, it’s a very important game and we’ve already forgotten about the last one, our focus is on Bahrain,” he said. “We have a very tough game tomorrow, and everybody is ready and we are excited to play our second game.”
This will be the third time Mahdi Ali has faced Bahrain as UAE coach, each time with a different coach on the opposite bench.
“For me, it’s a game, regardless, we are not playing against the coach,” he said. “We have to concentrate and be ready. Their team has changed over the last two years, their way of playing has changed.
“We saw Bahrain against Iran. They played a very good game. They conceded two goals only from set pieces. I think they are a good team. We have studied them and we have the requirements how to deal with them.”
Inevitably, he was not too keen to discuss Omar Abdulrahman’s excellent showing against Qatar.
“Omar is one of the members of the team and I don’t want to speak too much about him,” he said. “We are focusing on the team. For Omar to stand out, he needs the help of his teammates. He had a big match against Qatar with the help of his colleagues. We expect he will be in better condition than he was in the first match.”
Having played a defensive game against Iran, it was suggested to the UAE coach that Bahrain will have no option but to be more ambitious on Thusday.
“Every game has its own condition. They might surprise us with a different system,” Mahdi Ali said. “For us, we need to be ready for every scenario that might come up in the game.”
Left-back Walid Abbas said Bahrain would not abandon their gameplan.
“I personally don’t think that Bahrain will gamble from the start,” he said. “They will play with caution, and if we get a chance, hopefully we can score.”
Keeping his players’ feet on the ground has not been an issue for a coach who has worked with this group of players for almost a decade.
“We’ve been through a lot of similar situations. We have to learn from our experiences,” Mahdi Ali said. “We celebrated on the night, but the following day we sat down and told them we have to forget this game and concentrate on what’s coming. I think the players are up to the responsibility.”
Expectations have risen dramatically since the win over Qatar, and the coach concedes that while being so far away from home reduces the immediate pressure, it is not something that concerns him.
“Sure, from a media point of view maybe there is little less scrutiny here, but let’s not forget that pressure is part of football,” Mahdi Ali said.
“Especially supporter pressure, that is what gives the players the motivation to play better. We have a mission. We are accustomed, whether at home or abroad, to give our best to reach our goals.”
akhaled@thenational.ae
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