Mohammed Khalfan al Rumaithi has vowed to do everything in his power to raise the level of football in the country after a dismal 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign. The president of the UAE Football Association has promised a thorough review of the system in the coming days after The Whites crashed out of the running for a ticket to South Africa following the 2-0 defeat to North Korea in Pyongyang on Saturday.
But first al Rumaithi has urged the supporters to get over their disappointment and support the team as they line-up against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh today. "The defeat in Pyongyang was a sad moment for all of us," he said. "But we must get over this grief, especially since the team is about to play a very important match against Saudi Arabia. "We cannot allow this despair to reach the hearts of our players. They tried their best against North Korea, but we lacked a bit of luck.
"The conditions were also stacked against the team, we are not used to the cold weather and the artificial pitch. "We were also missing some of our best players. In addition, North Korea were playing at home in front of their fans. "Having said that, we are going to discuss the performance of the team in our next meeting and we will take any and every measure needed to correct this situation." The UAE have been the worst-performing side among the 10 teams in the final round of Asian qualifying. They are the only team without a win and have just a single point from five games. Every other team has a minimum of four.
The team's inexperienced defence has conceded 11 goals in five games, the second-most among the 10 teams after Qatar (12). Upfront, there have been just four goals scored, the same as Qatar and Bahrain, who are the backmarkers in Group 1. Coach Dominique Bathenay has been widely blamed for the disappointing campaign, especially for playing with a lone striker in the must-win game against North Korea.
But to be fair to the Frenchman, he took over the reins after the UAE had already lost two games, both at home, against North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Bruno Metsu stepped down in September after five consecutive losses at home. Bathenay has won two of his 11 games since, losing five and drawing the others. The game against Saudi Arabia could be Bathenay's last at the helm as al Rumaithi has promised a review of the coach's performance in the next meeting of the UAE FA.
"We will discuss the reasons for our failure in our next meeting and if the coach is one of them, we will get the best man for the job," he said. arizvi@thenational.ae