New boss and a new direction

The Dubai-based Al Wasl, characterised by their all-yellow colours on home turf, have made a mark on the international stage. Under a new coach, there is promise of further progress.

Even though they never threatened a repeat of the wonders of the 2006-07 double-winning campaign, Al Wasl did manage to make a mark on an international scale last term. Abdullah al Kamali was just a little known player making his way through the ranks at the club this time last year. Then, near the end of last season, the striker, 18, became the first ever Emirati footballer to be exported to Brazil when he signed a two-year deal with the former national champions Atletico Paranaense.

The skillful No10 was a prolific goalscorer in UAE youth football, but his switch to Brazil was still a surprise and he remains a relatively unknown quantity. The Wasl coach, Ze Mario, an enigmatic wanderer from Brazil who does not believe in staying at the same club for more than two or three seasons, has since left the UAE. He has headed back to Al Arabi, the Qatar club he first managed in 1992, for what, amazingly, will be his 24th new start in management.

Ze Mario, whose previous appointments include Brazil's most popular team, Flamengo, as well as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, led Wasl to the league and cup double in his first season. However, when he failed to get close to such success second time round, he parted company with the club, and now has been replaced by Miroslav Beranek. The new man served as the assistant to the Czech Republic national team boss Karel Bruckner between 2002-2006, and has arrived from the Hungarian league side Debreceni. Beranek has been used to working with players of the calibre of Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky and Jan Koller in the recent past. He admits he still does not know what to make of the more humble resources he has to work with at Wasl.

"Czech players are at another level," said Beranek, who was the head coach of the Czech Republic when they won the 2002 European Championships. "The Czech team is usually around six or seven in the Fifa rankings - while the Emirates are between 100 and 105. So it is another level. "For me, it is a new experience. These players have a different mentality to what I am used to, and I must get to know that mentality."

Beranek admitted he still does not know his ideal starting XI, due to the feverish transfer activity which followed his arrival at the club on June 10. He added: "In Switzerland [where Wasl held a three-week summer training camp] we had 42 players, half of which were young players. We tried to give every player a chance, then after coming back to Dubai we have a better idea of our best line-up. "But, this [Thursday night's 2-2 draw with Hatta in their final pre-season friendly] was our last match before the competition starts - and still we had three new players. They need time to adapt. We have a new team, a young team, and I don't know the level of the other teams."

Wasl kick-off their Etisalat Pro League campaign against Ajman at the weekend. [e-mail]