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The National
24-03-2025
- Sport
- The National
North Korea v UAE: Can national team still qualify automatically for World Cup?
As the third round of Asian qualifying reaches its crunch stage, there are a variety of permutations facing Paulo Bento's UAE side. By the time they kick off against North Korea in Riyadh on Tuesday night, they will know whether they still stand a chance of qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup. Because of the way the kick off times are staggered on the last day of the penultimate window of Asian qualifying round three, the fixture might be rendered academic. Each of the six sides has three matches remaining in the pool. The top two teams qualify directly for the main event in the United States, Canada and Mexico in two years' time. The UAE are bidding to make it to the World Cup for a second time. They were knocked out in the group phase in Italy back in 1990. If they don't finish in the top two in the group, there is still a chance to make it. The third and fourth placed teams enter a complicated play-off system, which could involve fixtures against sides from Africa, the Caribbean, and Oceania. Their chances are hanging by a thread, but there is still a possibility of them making it through in the top two. If Iran beat Uzbekistan and the UAE beat North Korea on Tuesday, then the Iranians will qualify for the World Cup as group winners. The UAE would then be within three points of the Uzbeks in second place, and they host them in the penultimate match in June. If the national team were to win that fixture, then it would be likely a win in their final match – away in Kyrgyzstan – would give them a place at the World Cup. That would all depend on Qatar failing to take maximum points from their final matches – against Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Uzbekistan – or at least failing to advance their goal difference past the UAE's. The national team are currently nine goals better off than Qatar, and two better than the Uzbeks. However, if Iran and Uzbekistan draw in Tehran, and the UAE beat North Korea, then the Uzbeks would hold a four-point buffer over the national team going into the final two matches in June. As such, the UAE could leapfrog them if they beat Uzbekistan at home, then win in Kyrgyzstan, so long as the Uzbeks do not beat Qatar in their final game. If Uzbekistan beat Iran, those two sides will each have a nine-point advantage over the UAE. That would as good as rule the national team out of a top-two finish. They would have to win all their remaining three games, and hope Iran and the Uzbeks lost all theirs. Paulo Bento, the UAE coach, might rightly recognise that all the permutations will count for nothing unless the national team get their own act together. Having enjoyed one of the finest nights in the history of UAE football the last time they played a World Cup qualifier, back in November, they returned to earth with a thud on Thursday. They had signed off their campaign in 2024 with a thrilling 5-0 win over neighbours Qatar in Abu Dhabi. It was a performance full of joy, with Fabio De Lima, the Al Wasl playmaker, scoring four goals to start the party. Then, four months later and with an underwhelming Gulf Cup performance in between, they were a shadow of themselves in Tehran last Thursday. Strikingly, De Lima did not even make the starting line-up, in a rejigged, cautious set up by Bento. Most things that could go wrong, did. It was cold and rainy. One of the floodlights failed, leading to a 29-minute hold up in play. Then one of the players with which the UAE team are best acquainted – Shabab Al Ahli striker Sardar Azmoun – headed Iran into the lead, and the away side failed to recover. They eventually subsided 2-0, and it could have been more, had the hosts been more clinical. Whether Bento retains the five-man backline ploy for the game against North Korea, on neutral territory at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, remains to be seen. Given the number of bodies present at the back, it was a worryingly leaky defensive effort against the Iranians. What is certain is the national team will need to be far sharper than they were when they hosted the North Koreans in Al Ain earlier in the group. That draw, characterised by a high energy display by the unheralded visitors, was a costly one for the national team. The two points they dropped would have been very handy now that the pool is reaching its business stage. It must be hoped they can get back the spirit of last November smartly in Riyadh. Surely a good starting point would be to restore De Lima, who did appear as a late sub in Tehran, to the starting XI.
The National
20-03-2025
- Sport
- The National
UAE football team's overseas contingent
Fabio De Lima of the UAE during a World Cup qualifier against Iraq at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
The National
20-03-2025
- Sport
- The National
Brazilians, Africans and an Englishman - the changing face of UAE team ahead of crucial World Cup qualifiers
Having been an international football manager for seven years now, Paulo Bento is surely used to the rhythms of the job. Still, it must have its frustrations. A couple of weeks of intense work, followed by months of fallow time, when he has merely a watching brief. Contact with his players might be limited to the odd WhatsApp message here and there, while they are the responsibility of their club coaches, instead. Over the course of stints with South Korea and, since 2023, the UAE, there have likely been few times when he would have wanted to keep hold of his players more than last November. It was then that the Portuguese coach's UAE side delivered on their promise in spectacular fashion, with a pair of results that breathed life into their 2026 World Cup qualifying hopes. Until that point, the campaign had been fitful. A nice surprise on opening night in the third round of Asia's byzantine qualifying process, as they won in Qatar. A narrow loss to Iran a few days later, then dropped points against North Korea and a loss – despite a plucky performance – in Uzbekistan. Their hopes of making one of the two automatic qualifying berths in the group theirs seemed to be fading. Then they muddled their way through to beat Kyrgyzstan, then thrashed double Asian champions Qatar 5-0, in one of the great nights for UAE football. Optimism was soaring. Goodwill was such that, when four-goal hero Fabio De Lima was spotted at a McDonald's drive-thru late that night, supporters were queuing up to pay for his order. It was a very, very Happy Meal, presumably. Then everyone went their separate ways, gathering again together only for a tepid reunion in the Gulf Cup in December, when they failed to get out of the group. All the positivity risked being dissolved. Four months after that trouncing of Qatar, they are back on the World Cup qualification trail. They face group leaders Iran, in Tehran, on Thursday evening, then travel to Riyadh to face North Korea on Tuesday. Sitting in third place, they are attempting to make up the three-point gap on second-placed Uzbekistan. The national team flew to Tehran on Wednesday morning, with one training session at the Azadi Sports Complex planned for that same evening. Ahead of that, Bento has tried to get back some of the feelings from November during a training camp in Jebel Ali in Dubai. He will also have had to introduce some of the players to each other, given a number of new arrivals in the team. There are a variety of new faces in the squad. It is a sign of the evolving face of the national team that 40 per cent of the 27-man squad for the two qualifiers were born abroad. Eight of those are Brazilians who have been outstanding performers in the Adnoc Pro League for several seasons now, and have become naturalised citizens. One of the new recruits, Caio Lucas, is on a grand tour all on his own. The forward was born in Brazil, then later educated in Japan, which is where he made his debut in professional football. He had a brief stint with Portuguese giants Benfica, between spells with two of the UAE's biggest clubs, Al Ain and Sharjah, and attained UAE citizenship last year. He is joined in the squad by his colleague in the Sharjah forward line, Luanzinho, who once played representative football for Brazil at age-group level. A third attacker of Brazilian origin, Al Wasl winger Jonatas Santos, is also in line for a debut. The trio will give Bento the sort of variety of attacking options which have been thin on the ground in the past. The UAE are not the only side who have become increasingly resourceful in expanding their player pool to include players like the Brazilians, as well as England-born Mackenzie Hunt, who spent his formative years in Dubai. It has become a growing trend among countries trying to make it into the newly expanded 48-team World Cup. Elsewhere in Asian qualifying, for example, an Indonesia side now managed by former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert, have 18 out of 29 players in their squad who were born in Europe. Overseas experience is something Iran are not short of, albeit all of their players were raised at home, and their professional careers earned them moves abroad. A number of their leading players have experience of playing in foreign leagues, including two key players who will be known only too well to the UAE players. Mehdi Ghayedi, Team Melli's playmaker, scored the goal that separated the two sides when they met in Al Ain at the start of this group stage. He plays his clubs football for Ittihad Kalba on the UAE's east coast. And Sardar Azmoun has been blazing a trail in UAE football this season. The Iran striker's goals have helped Shabab Al Ahli to the top of the Pro League. Only three of the 27 players in the UAE's extended squad are from Azmoun's club, but Bento should have some decent intel on how to stop the prolific former Roma and Bayer Leverkusen forward. Shabab Al Ahli's rise in the UAE league has been overseen by Paulo Sousa, who is a compatriot and former Portugal teammate of Bento's. Thwarting the UAE-based duo will be vital to the national team's prospects in Iran. Victory will be a tough task, given the table toppers are unbeaten so far in the group, but the UAE will believe it is possible if they can channel the spirit of last November.
