UAE team prepare to continue Olympics bid

Members of the UAE Olympic football team gathered in Dubai yesterday to start preparations for their crucial match against Iraq on February 5 in the qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympic Games. The team met and trained at the Al Wasl stadium before they were due to leave for Al Dammam, Saudi Arabia, today. They will hold a training camp ahead of a friendly match against their Saudi counterparts on January 26 and Bahrain on January 29. They will then head to Doha, where they face Iraq. Route to London UAE have to beat Iraq and then win their two remaining matches against Uzbekistan away and Australia at home to seal a berth in the Olympic football tournament in London this summer. In their previous qualifying games, they drew 0-0 with both Australia and Uzbekistan and went down to Iraq 2-0 at home. Mahdi Ali, the team's head coach, invited 21 players to yesterday's training session: Amer Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Jaber, Mohammad Fawzi, Habboush Saleh and Ahmad Ali from Bani Yas; Adil Al Hosani, Hamdan Al Kamali, Salem Saleh and Khalid Jalal from Al Wahda; Khalid Eisa, Ali Al Ameri, Ali Mabkhoot and Waleed Al Yamahi from Al Jazira; Ahmad Khalil and Abdul Aziz Haikal from Al Ahli; Abdul Aziz Sanqoor from Sharjah; Mohammad Abdul Rahman from Al Ain; Rashid Eisa and Ahmad Mahmoud from Al Wasl; Habib Al Fardan from Al Nasr; and Mohammad Ahmad from Al Shabab. "The task is difficult, but we still have hope that we can achieve our dream of playing in the Olympic Games," Ali said.