UAE should play for victory on the ball

In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Emperor, was forced to retreat from Russia because of the harsh winter of the country. Today, 200 years on, the UAE Olympic Football Team will face the same weather conditions when facing Uzbekistan in the final qualifying match of the London Olympic Games. But they enjoy a better advantage than the former French Emperor in that even if they don't win a single point they can realise the country's 28-year-old Olympic dream. Al Jazira have provided a motivational role for the Olympic Team when they came from 2-0 behind last week against Nasaf in Uzbekistan in the AFC Champions League to win 4-2. The fact that the UAE senior national team have never lost a match in Uzbekistan is another bonus for the morale of the young players. The UAE have won twice in Uzbekistan. In the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup, held in Tashkent, they came from 0-2 behind to win 3-2. Upper hand In the qualifiers for the 2011 Asian Cup they won on a single goal scored by Sultan Bargash and was created by Ahmad Khalil, who will be there tonight. This generation of players have defeated their Uzbek counterparts in the final match of the 2008 Asian Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia and again trounced them 3-0 in the preliminary round of the 2010 Asian Games in China. Hence beating them today will not be an impossible task and the gifted team of the UAE can repeat that feat again with the knowledge that they are only a few metres away from achieving yet another big victory for their country. It was Bonaparte who said "attack is the best form of defence", and Mahdi Ali, the head coach of the UAE, being himself a former outstanding striker, will not play for a draw because that will distract the attention of his players. The most important thing tonight is for the players to give full concentration to the match, particularly in the first and last 15 minutes which usually decide the fate of the teams.