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Abu Dhabi: Led by their head coach, Bruno Metsu, the UAE senior football team started their last phase of preparations for the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup at Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium, here, on Tuesday upon returning from their external training camp in Eurpe.
The UAE will face Bahrain in their last friendly match tomorrow at 8:00 pm preparing for the kick off of their campaign in the qualifiers in Group B which features: Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
Amateurs
The UAE will open their campaign hosting the North Koreans on Saturday, September 6 and will play at the same venue against Saudi Arabia four days later.
The UAE players gathered in Intercontinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi, following a two day rest their technical staff gave them following their return from their training camp in Switzerland and France where they played three friendly matches. The team have lost their most strong match against Algeria with a single goal and won two against FC Sion in Switzerland and an amateur team in France.
Basheer Saeed, the left defender will miss the friendly against Bahrain tomorrow because of a broken arm and Dr. Jalal Al Ghali, the physician of the team, confirmed that the player will be fully recovered for the match against Korea.
Staff
"The training camp was a success in preparing the players tactically and physically," Abdulla Hassan, the team's manager, told Gulf News yesterday.
"We benefited from our match against Algeria in which the head coach tried to apply new ideas and in friendly matches it is sometimes better to lose than to win because defeat show the technical staff the mistakes and weak points of the team which should be ironed before the official matches. I believe that Metsu and his assisting staff have worked hard to iron these flaws and the line up of the official matches will be tested against Bahrain."
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