The coach of the UAE national team, the Portuguese Paulo Bento, confirmed the difficulty of facing Kyrgyzstan, which is being held today in the fifth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, pointing out that he cannot make promises that the “Whites” will achieve victory, stressing that he is fulfilling his role as a coach.
He said in a press conference yesterday: “I know that the public and the media evaluate the coach based on the results, but on my part the technical staff provides the necessary information, studies the competitors, and prepares for them in the best possible way.”
He explained: “We are playing a very important match and we are playing against a team that has three points on its score, one point ahead of the UAE national team, which doubles the importance of the match. We were keen to inform the players of this matter, and we have complete confidence in their abilities to provide a good performance, as morale is high, and the motivations are high.” The players make us confident that the team will play a good match, but at the same time we must respect the opponent and give everything we have until we achieve victory.”
He added: “The preparations were different compared to the last few gatherings and camps. They are closer to what was the case in the gathering we held last September. In general, we worked extensively to provide all the necessary information about the opponent, how to play the match, and the playing strategy that we will follow.”
He talked about the information he had about the Kyrgyz national team, and said: “The technical team did its job as it should, and collected information about the opponent’s way of playing and the tactics he follows, as his attacking style is simple and not complicated, and in defense he plays with five players and sometimes with three players. He has a defender who plays “He is good at building attacks, and he is good at early pressure, and exploiting the spaces between the lines in the attacking third of the field. I worked to convey this information to the players in anticipation of the different scenarios of the match, and I stressed to the players the need to respect the opponent.”
Regarding how to avoid the scenario of losing more points in the matches that the team plays on its home field, he said: “It is important that we collect points and achieve victory in any match that we play, regardless of whether the match is held on our home field or outside our home stadium, as the largest part of the device’s work is The technician is to provide the necessary information about the opponent, and to develop plans with which the team will play, according to the course of the match. For me as a coach, qualifying for the World Cup depends on collecting the largest number of points, whether at home or away from home.”
He continued: “I see that the team showed a high fighting spirit and presented good levels in the past four matches. The only match in which I was not satisfied with the performance was against North Korea, and I believe that all the matches and results are fair except for the one against Uzbekistan, where we deserved a result.” Better, and we hope that we will play the match in a different spirit and in a better way than we played in the North Korea match, because if we repeat the same thing, we will suffer greatly.”
Regarding the impact of the absence of Sultan Adel and Ali Saleh, he said: “Sultan has been absent for a long time and does not participate in the matches. As for Ali Saleh, he suffered an injury and physical problems in the last Al-Wasl match in the AFC Champions League, and it was thought that the injury was minor, but that did not happen, and we are currently focusing.” “On the pool of players available and on how to best prepare them for the matches.”
He concluded his statements by responding to a question about his message to the audience, saying: “We promise the audience that we will give everything we have and that we will work intensively to improve performance and results, but no coach can promise to achieve victory in a specific match. I mentioned previously that I feel optimistic about the way the players prepare, and I understand that the coaches’ evaluation is based on the results only, but there is work that we are doing and I cannot make any promises other than that we will give our best.”
. Morale is high, and the motivation of the players makes us confident that the team will perform well.
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