The director of the national football team that qualified for the World Cup in 1990, Major General (Retd) Saleh Al Matroushi, confirmed that the duties of administrators in the eighties and nineties were more than just sports, and their mark was clear in achieving qualification for the World Cup, stressing that administrative work was pivotal and no less effort than what the players and coaches do in the success of the plans that led to achieving the accomplishments.
Al Matrooshi told Al-Emarat Al-Youm: “The national teams were previously a strategic goal for both the player and the administrator, due to the role of the national team in developing them more than their presence with the clubs. I noticed that when I worked as a member of the national teams committee and as the manager of the junior and youth teams, which formed the golden generation that qualified for the World Cup.”
Al Matrooshi described the period between 1984 and 1990 as having “shaped the development of Emirati football,” noting that “people still remember that achievement, despite the passage of nearly 35 years since it was achieved, and they live its joy.”
He added, “The current team is capable of qualifying for the World Cup again, and the opportunity is better than before. Its current group is not difficult, and the players who have been naturalized will greatly benefit the team at the present time.”
Al-Matroushi touched on the role of the administrator in the past, saying: “The coach would seek the opinions of the administrator to identify some of the mistakes that the players were making, and would ask him to guide the players in their own way. Despite the limited role of the administrator in the starting lineup, his word was heard.”
Al Matrooshi stressed that “administrative performance has developed at the present time with the application of professionalism due to the existence of mechanisms and laws that organize efforts in conjunction with the development of football worldwide, as a result of refining the talents of administrators through courses and the necessary preparation of administrative systems, laws and updated technical regulations. I call on current administrators to invest in the development that has taken place to support the technical return and achieve a new accomplishment by qualifying for the World Cup.”
The director of the Golden Generation team stated that “the failure of the UAE Whites to qualify for the World Cup since 1990 and in the years that followed is due to several reasons, including the failure to find a coach who is up to the task, as well as the failure to invest in opportunities despite the discovery of talented players who enjoy stardom.”
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