Al Jazira duo praised as Al Kamali faces big test

Franky Vercauteren paid tribute to Khalid Essa and Khamis Esmail after the Al Jazira youngsters played a vital role in the UAE Olympic team’s crunch win over Australia on Wednesday night. The UAE need only a point from their final group match against Uzbekistan to qualify for the Games in London after Al Ain midfielder Omar Abdulrahman grabbed the only goal of the game in the 23rd minute. Playing on their home ground, and spurred on by more than 28,000 inside the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, the two Jazira players were integral in the win, Khamis breaking up play in midfield while Essa was equal to the few raids the Olyroos managed on the home side’s goal. The pair have also enjoyed impressive seasons at club level, establishing themselves in Vercauteren’s first-choice XI, and their Belgian coach was clearly impressed with their displays on what could prove a historic evening for UAE football. “I saw a few players who were in good shape, I have to congratulate all the team for their performance,” he said. “I think on some moments Essa was saving the team, he didn’t win the game alone, but he was there on the very, very important moments, and even though Australia didn’t have a lot of chances, he stopped those that they had. So he was very important and for me very interesting for the future. “Khamis was doing what he is doing in our team also, and you could see yesterday also that sometimes we miss him because with his power, with his headers, with his ball recuperation he is also very important for the balance in our team. “So, for me, they were the best players yesterday and that’s why sometimes schedules are not in favour, especially if you’re playing important games and they have to miss them.” One player who didn’t feature on Wednesday was Lyon new-boy Hamdan Al Kamali. The on-loan centre-back only returned to the UAE two days prior to the game and was not deemed ready for the game. Hamdan’s former boss at Al Wahda, Josef Hickersberger, thinks losing his place in the Olympic side, while training with the reserves in France, will be a severe test of the youngster’s character. “It’s difficult, it’s a big blow for Hamdan Al Kamali. He travelled from Lyon to Abu Dhabi and then he found himself on the substitutes’ bench,” Hickersberger said. “He should have thought about this possibility before he moved to Lyon because it’s difficult, especially now during the winter in Europe, it’s an extremely cold winter there and I saw pictures of Hamdan training in snow. “It’s really a very good experience for him, because no one cares about Hamdan at Lyon. Ok, who is Hamdan Al Kamali? He’s okay, but coming from the UAE they are not something special in international football.” Hickersberger added: “He’s a young player, he’s nice guy, he’s talented, but this is the French first league and French football is good so it’s difficult but a wonderful experience – for him as a player and as a person, because now we will see what his character is about. Whether he can fight and try to get the best of the situation.”