Before the 2007 Gulf Cup win, the UAE's finest performance was arguably when they finished second in 1988, with the team that became known as the golden generation as they qualified for the 1990 World Cup.
Nineteen years after the close call in 1988, Bruno Metsu’s men went one better by winning the cup. Sadly, that is where the story ends. There would be no further glory for this group of players.
Players such as captain and much-travelled striker Mohammed Omar and Al Ahli’s Faisal Khalil deserve credit for their contributions to that cherished first win. Yet, seven years on, they suffer in comparison with 2013 alumni Omar Abdulrahman, Ali Kasheif and Ali Mabkhout.
It did not help that the UAE’s performances deteriorated almost immediately after lifting the cup for the first time.
At the 2008 Asian Cup, six months after that Gulf Cup triumph, the team failed to qualify to the knockout stages.
In the 2009 Gulf Cup in Oman, the defending champions failed to get out of their group and, a year later in Yemen, they failed to score in three of four matches, losing 1-0 in the semi-finals to Saudi Arabia.
Far worse were their attempts at qualifying for the World Cup.
For South Africa 2010, the UAE got out of the first qualifying group in second place behind Iran, only to perform miserably in the second group stage, finishing bottom in the five-team Group B.
Metsu had resigned after consecutive 2-1 home defeats to North Korea and Saudi Arabia.
The campaign for Brazil 2014 was even more harrowing, with the UAE out of contention in November 2011.
The one bright thread throughout this period of darkness was Ismail Matar, who would prove a link between the lost generation of 2007 and golden generation mark two of 2013.
akhaled@thenational.ae