(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The UAE senior football national team will face an uphill task as the Whites are looking forward to retain their Gulf Cup title which they won last year in Bahrain.
UAE players and coach Mahdi Ali celebrate their Gulf Cup win in 2013. — File
According to the sources of the UAE football association (UAEFA) the job is going to be very tough but they are confident that the Mahdi Ali-trained boys will live up to the challenge.
“All the eight teams have equal chances as seven of them have advanced to the finals of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 which will kickoff two months after the tournament in Down Under” said the UAEFA acting secretary general Mohammed Abdulla Hazzam.
The draw ceremony of the competition (Khaliji 22) is set to be held in Riyadh KSA on Tuesday. Eight teams have confirmed participation in KHaliji 22 to be held in the Saudi capital from November 13 to 26 2014. They are: UAE Kuwait Oman Bahrain Qatar alongside hosts Saudi Arabia and Yemen and Iraq.
The draw ceremony will be held at the Al Masak Palace while the tournament’s logo and mascot are expected to be unveiled. All matches would be played at the King Fahad International Stadium and Prince Faisal bin Fahad Stadium.
The eight teams will be divided into two groups with hosts Saudi Arabia at the top of Group A and holders UAE leading Group B. The other teams would be drawn in accordance with their respective FIFA rankings which have been published last July.
Oman (69) and Qatar (86) will be drawn first followed by Iraq (89) and Bahrain (105) and finally Kuwait (107) and Yemen (108).
UAE have won the title for the second time in Bahrain in January 2013 after a successful campaign. They Whites launched their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Qatar they then beat hosts Bahrain 2-1 and Oman 2-0 in the group stage before overtaking Kuwait 1-0 in the semis and edging Iraq 2-1 in the final.
Meanwhile the UAE lads head for Austria on August 13 for a three-week tour. This is the second external training camp after last May’s Swiss tour where UAE went down fighting 2-4 to Armenia and defeated Georgia 1-0.
UAE take on Norway on August 27 Lithuania on September 3 and Paraguay on September 7 during the Austrian tour.
Meanwhile the Saudi football governing body has also invited the officials of the eight teams to attend the meetings of the technical and media committees to be held at the Narsis Hotel in Riyadh.
The UAEFA board of directors has nominated Ali Al Zaabi FA board member and deputy chairman of the national teams’ committee for the technical committee and Nasser Al Yamahy FA board member and chairman of the players status and transfer committee for the media committee besides Khalid Dahes assistant coach of the juniors national team for the technical studies committee of the competition.
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