Olympic team aim to make amends

At a time when the UAE football community is deeply disappointed with the poor results of the country's senior national team in the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, their younger compatriots in the Olympics Under-23 team are giving great hope of reaching the finals of the football competition for London 2012 ahead of their game against Uzbekistan at Khalifa Stadium in Al Ain tonight (7.20pm kick-off). The UAE senior team have lost all five matches in a group that also featured South Korea, Kuwait and Lebanon and are out of the tournament with one match still to play against Lebanon in February next year. But the Olympic team, who have achieved great success since winning the Asian Youth Championship in 2008, convinced everyone of their capabilities after they came back from Sydney with a valuable point following their goalless tie against Australia, one of the favourites, in their opening match. On the same day, the Uzbeks beat the Iraqis 2-0 to lead the group. Mahdi Ali, the local coach of the UAE team, is worried about the participation of his central defender and captain Hamdan Al Kamali, who has not yet fully recovered from an injury and now has only a slim chance of playing tonight, although he is sure to play against Iraq on Saturday. Kamali's teammate, striker Ahmad Ali, is not expected to play in either match after arriving from Germany yesterday after finishing treatment. The UAE players are brimming with confidence after coming back from 2-0 down to beat Belarus 4-2 in a friendly match four days ago. They realise the importance of tonight's game, as victory would give them the leadership of the group as they bid to feature in the football finals of an Olympic Games for the first time in the UAE's history. Determined "It is a difficult match and the Uzbeks have a good and strong team," Mahdi Ali told a press conference yesterday. "But I have confidence in my players and believe they are determined to achieve a positive result at home." Vadim Abramov, his Uzbek counterpart, said: "We have respect for the UAE and we saw their match against Australia. They have a good team but we also have a strong team and all our players are ready to take part." Mahi is expected to start with Adil Al Hosani in goal, Abdul Aziz Haikal, Mohammad Ahmad, Sa'ad Sorrour and Abdul Aziz Sangoor in defence, Amer Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Fawzi, Sultan Bargash and Rashid Eissa in midfield, and Ahmad Khalil and Ali Mabkhoot in attack.