Mutasim Abdullah (Dubai)
Our national Olympic team will launch its participation in the AFC U-23 Cup finals, by facing its Japanese counterpart at five in the evening tomorrow at Pakhtakor Stadium in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, in the first round in the fourth group, and it will meet in the second match in the same group Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan at seven in the evening at the stadium Locomotive.
The current participation is the fourth in the history of the UAE national team after its exit from the quarter-finals in three participations 2014, 2016, 2020, compared to its absence from the finals in one copy 2018, on the other hand, the “Al-Samore” aspirant did not miss his second title in the finals after the first in 2016 for participating in all the past four editions of the AFC U-23 Cup.
At the start of his career in the continental finals, the “Olympic Whites” was armed with its positive record in the opening matches during the previous participations of the AFC U-23 Cup, as it maintained its record free of loss with a tie in the first match of the 2014 edition against Australia 1-1, and winning the second participation 2016 against the same The opponent 1-0, and the draw in the last participation in the 2020 edition against Vietnam 0-0.
Our team booked its place in the finals by topping the overall standings of the fifth group hosted by Fujairah with 6 points from two wins over India 1-0 and Oman 2-0, and one loss was against Kyrgyzstan 1-2, on the other hand, Japan qualified for the finals after leading the 11th group with a score 6 points from two wins over Hong Kong and Cambodia with one score 4-0 to secure its place for the fifth time in a row.
The “Olympic White”‘s task will not be easy against his rival “Al-Samuri” in reference to the history of the Olympic confrontations between the two teams in the continental participation, in light of the latter’s victory in the five official confrontations, beginning with the 1996 Olympic qualifier match with a score of 0-1, and the 2004 Olympic qualifiers with a score of 0-2. 0-3, and a 0-1 loss in the 2010 Asian Games, and 0-1 in the 2018 Asian Games, in which the “Olympic White” won the bronze medal by achieving third place.
And the “Olympic White”, whose list includes 23 players, completed its readiness for the continental finals, in which it lacks a group of its basic elements joining the first team, such as Ali Saleh, Majed Rashid, Hareb Abdullah, Sultan Adel, through a series of friendly experiences and official matches in the West Asian Championship and qualifying Qualified to the current finals.
The total of official and friendly tests for our team under the leadership of its current coach, Spain, Denis da Silva, reached about 17 matches, winning 11, losing 4, and drawing in two matches with Lebanon 1-1 Uzbekistan 0-0 friendly.