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Dubai: The UAE national Under-19 football team left on for Germany on Saturday for a three-week camp in Hamburg in preparation for the Asian Under-19 championships to be held in Saudi Arabia from October 31 to November 14.
Speaking to Gulf News before departure, UAE national Under-19 coach Juma Rabea said, "We will work hard in the training camp to prepare the players for the Asian championships. Our target is to qualify for the 2009 Youth World Cup."
"During the training camp in Germany, we will play five warm-up matches with German teams on July 10, 14, 17, 21 and 24 and return to UAE on 25th." he said.
The UAE youth team will assemble again in the middle of August and leave on 20th for Switzerland to take part in an international youth tournament from August 20 to 29.
UAE play in Group B in the Asian event which will be staged in Dammam and Al Khobar cities in Saudi Arabia. The first UAE match in Group B will be against Iraq on October 31. The UAE meet Korea Republic on November 2 while their last group game will be against Syria on November 4. All three matches involving the UAE will be played at the Al Khobar Stadium. The top four teams of the Asian Under 19 championship qualify for the 2009 Youth World Cup Finals to be held in Egypt. UAE will be looking to qualify for the Youth World Cup for the third time after they played in the Finals in 1997 in Malaysia and again in 2003 when as hosts they made it to the last eight.
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