UAE reinforced by Amoory

A LEADING light of Asian football is set to electrify the National Stadium at Bukit Jalil when Malaysia take on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in today’s World Cup qualifier.

Unfortunately, the star concerned is set to shine for the Arabian side against Malaysia.

Omar Abdulrahman will be the most famous name on the pitch today, and again he looms as the biggest threat to Malaysia. Four years ago in a World Cup qualifier, Omar wreaked havoc on the Malaysian team, creating eight of the goals in UAE’s 10-0 win,

Known to fans as Amoory, the 27-year-old left-footed playmaker was voted as the 2016 Asian Player of the Year.

And expect Omar to be back with a bang after a long absence (due to knee injury) led to him missing the Asian Cup in January (UAE lost 4-0 in the semi-final to Qatar in Abu Dhabi).

The attacking midfielder had also caught the eye of Manchester City. Omar had a two-week trial with the EPL giants in 2012 and got a positive response from Man City. But work permit and national team ranking issues put a stop to his move to England.

On UAE’s past record against Malaysia, Omar is not the type that gloats over the 10-0 massacre. He said what happened in 2015 will have little bearing on today’s match.

“I consider that (10-0 win) is already in the past,” said Omar at a pre-match press conference yesterday.

“We believe that modern football changes all the time. We already saw how well Malaysia did in the last game and we have to be focused on this match.

“We are feeling optimistic and this could be a good start for us.

“Our coach (Bert Van Marwijk) is known to everybody. Now he’s focusing on the young players of UAE.

“I’m quite ready. Whenever the coach needs me, I’ll play. I’ve played in a friendly in Bahrain and I hope we can get the three points.”

The Whites, as UAE are known, are certainly taking their World Cup qualifier against Malaysia seriously in terms of preparation.

The UAE team arrived in Kuala Lumpur since last Wednesday with the goal of acclimatising to the Malaysian environment.

Van Marwijk, 66, who previously coached the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, also sent a technical team to Jakarta last week to observe the Indonesia-Malaysia clash, and he will no doubt have a good idea of Malaysia’s strengths and weaknesses.

“We have analysed them well. Malaysia have confidence. They play with high energy and have technical players.

“We must have patience and discipline. It will not be easy,” said Van Marwijk.

“We have many young players in the squad. We’ve worked hard the last two weeks. I haven’t had the team for very long.

“We had a training camp in July in Austria with most of the squad but not the same.”

Van Marwijk, who took over the Qatar team in April, added: “Everything is new. I’m new for them and the other way around is the same.

“When you’re the coach of a national team, the biggest problem is you always don’t have the time to work with the players.”

The Emiratis, ranked World 65, will start the match against World No 159 Malaysia as heavy favourites.

At the other end, Harimau Malaya are in roaring mood after beating Indonesia 3-2 last Thursday but they need to pounce on Omar before he sets up his defence splitting passes.

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