The UAE football teams, during their recent participation in various tournaments in the past two years, achieved a disappointing football harvest and continued negative results and exit from all competitions without achieving any positive results that cause optimism, as the scene is dominated by the recent failure of the first team, which was deposited a week ago «Gulf 25». In Iraq, after it came in last place in the second group with only one point, and before that it failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals that were held in Qatar, and was eliminated from the Asian play-off after losing to Australia 2-1.
The sports community in the country was shocked and greatly disappointed as a result of the recent negative results of the national teams, which casts a shadow of doubt and paints a blurry picture of the future of Emirates football, with questions being asked to find out the causes of the imbalance behind these modest results, and work to find appropriate solutions, before it is too late. .
According to statistics monitored by «Emirates Today» from the official website of the Football Association, the harvest of the teams was disappointing, and the early exit from all continental, Arab and Gulf competitions continued, including the exit of the youth team from the Arab Cup championship that was held in the Saudi city of Abha last summer, when it tied With Jordan 1-1, and lost to Yemen 3-1.
The youth team missed the opportunity to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup, after losing in the qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan 0-2 and Iran by the same result, noting that it started its career by defeating Brunei 5-0, and won third place with three points.
With regard to the junior team, it bid farewell to the Asian Cup qualifiers (Bahrain 2023), during the qualifiers that were held in Indonesia last October, after losing to Indonesia and Malaysia, while it had achieved two victories over Guam and Palestine.
The first team is awaiting important participations in the coming period, most notably the West Asian Championship scheduled in the UAE from March 20 to April 2, then the 2023 Asian Cup, whose date has not yet been determined.
It is expected that the coming period will witness major changes in the football system and the rearrangement of matters, after the repeated failures that Emirates football witnessed in the recent period, as it was subjected to major tremors, both at the level of the first team, which appeared modestly, and failed to achieve any honorable results in the last period.
Rebuild the team
Dr. Salim Al Shamsi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Football Association and former head of the Players’ Status and Transfers Committee, said, “The repeated failures of the national teams in all its stages sound the alarm about the future of Emirates football,” stressing the importance of the Football Association developing an urgent and clear plan to correct the course and return the teams. To achieve honorable results for Emirates Football. He stressed to «Emirates Today» the importance of rebuilding the first team, and that there be direct follow-up of this matter by the Board of Directors of the Federation.
Al Shamsi added: “The presence of large numbers of foreign players, and their registration in the resident category threatens the citizen player, and therefore this matter threatens the future of Emirates football, since this large number of foreign players is in local clubs at the expense of the citizen player, so every matter must be reconsidered.” Matters related to the teams, as well as reconsidering the issue of increasing the number of foreigners, especially the resident player so that the player who is actually resident in the country is attracted, given that he will be more loyal to the country in which he resides, and not contract with a player from outside the Emirates and bring him as a resident.
Harvest UAE teams in recent years
The first team:
Failure to qualify for the World Cup, after losing
In the Asian play-off against Australia 2-1.
Farewell to the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, after it finally came
In the second group, he scored a point from a draw and two losses.
■ Olympic team
Expelled from the first round of the West Asian Championship for Olympic Teams 2021 in Saudi Arabia.
He bid farewell to the 2022 Asian Cup, which was held in Uzbekistan, in the first round.
■ Youth National Team (born in 2003)
Exit from the 2021 Arab Cup in Egypt.
Farewell to the West Asian Championship 2021 in Iraq.
Exit from the 2022 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, which were held in Kyrgyzstan.
■ Youth National Team (born in 2001)
Early exit from the Arab Cup in Saudi Arabia 2022.
■ Junior national team (born in 2006)
Farewell to the West Asian Championship in Saudi Arabia 2021 from the semi-finals, after losing to “Al-Akhdar” by three clean goals.
Exit from the Asian qualifiers for the Asian Cup (Bahrain 2023), after finishing third in a group that included Palestine, Guam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
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