UAE Olympic team face Saudi Arabia challenge

The UAE Olympic team are set to take on Saudi Arabia in the second of their two friendlies as part of their preparations for the AFC Under-23 Championship China 2018 Qualifiers which takes place this month.

The UAE Olympic team will play Saudi Arabia at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riydh on Wednesday night. The squad, coached by Hassan Al Abdouli, are in Saudi Arabia as part of their external training camp from July 2 to 6.

The team played their first friendly against Saudi Arabia on Monday night with the game ending in a 1-1 stalemate. Saudi Arabia had taken the lead through Hamdan Al Shamrani as early as the second minute. But the UAE equalised through Ahmed Al Hashemi on 76 minutes.

English referee Mark Clattenburg officiated the match. Clattenburg, who had officiated the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid as well as the Euro final between Portugal and France last year, took over from countryman Howard Webb as the Head of Refereeing in Saudi Arabia this February.

"The coaching staff of the UAE Olympic team have set some goals to be achieved from the two friendlies against Saudi Arabia. Playing against a strong team like Saudi Arabia will help us prepare for the stern tests that we will encounter in our group," team manager Jamal Bu Hindi told the official UAEFA website.

"We will have the fifth preparatory camp in Al Ain and the team will play a friendly against Tajikistan," he added.

Prior to their trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE Olympic squad had undergone three training camps at the Theyab Awana ground at the UAE Football Association (UAEFA) headquarters in Al Khawaneej, during which they had beaten Bahrain 3-2 in a friendly.

After their return from Saudi Arabia, the squad will have another training camp, their fifth, in Al Ain from July 7 to 14. They are scheduled to play a friendly against Tajikistan on July 10.

The qualifiers are set to take place from July 19 to 23 with the UAE being the hosts country for Group D. The matches will take place at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in Al Ain. The other teams in Group D are Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Nepal. The UAE take on Nepal in their opener.

A total of 40 teams are in the fray and 16 will be looking to punch their tickets for the tournament to be held in China from January 9 to 27, 2018.

The 10 group winners and the five best runners-up will qualify for the tournament. China, despite qualifying automatically as hosts, have opted to compete in the qualifiers. And in the event of China topping their group or if they finish among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runners-up will also make their way in.

Saudi Arabia are placed in Group B and are the host country. The other teams in their group are Afghanistan, Bahrain and Iraq.

Source: Khaleej Times