New Khalil rises as star of the future

League action was off the agenda this week as the UAE prepared for last night’s World Cup qualifier.

But while the senior team have little or no chance of qualifying for the World Cup in 2010, the future is bright.
The UAE under 19s won the Asian championship this week in Dammam beating Uzbekistan 2-1. The team performed with a maturity and resolve the seniors would do well to match.

The star of the tournament was Ahmad Khalil, brother of the currently suspended Faisal Khalil. He scored four goals in the tournament.

The free-kick in the final and the opener against Australia stand out. He won the tournament’s most valuable player award and looks like a star of the future. Emiratis will just be waiting now for the players to get that bit older and make the step up to the seniors.

Mattar nominated

The AFC Player of the Year nominations have been announced and the UAE are represented in the shape of diminutive striker Esmail Mattar.

He is the only player representing the region as the other nominations are from Uzbekistan, Japan and Uruguay!
Qatar have a representative in the list but as is often the way with our near neighbours he wasn’t born that close to the desert. He is one of the imported players that has taken Qatari football to the next level.

I think Mattar could suffer in the final reckoning because his club don’t play in the Asian Champions League. This should be remedied as it looks like UAE teams soon will be admitted to the competition.

We should also give some credit to the match officials of the UAE as Ali Hamad Al Badwawi has been nominated for Asian referee of the year.

League’s best clash

The return of the UFL sees all games played on Saturday. The one that looks the most mouth-watering is the clash between Al Wahda and Al Ain. This will see the best home-grown player, the aforementioned Mattar, face off against the best import – Chile’s Jorge Valdivia.

The two players have started the season in excellent form and it will be a very interesting match-up.

League leaders Al Ahli are playing Al Shaab who are second bottom and should not prove too difficult for the best Dubai has to offer. The top four in the League are starting to look like the teams most likely to be in the shakedown for the title.

I am sure there will be chopping and changing among them but I can’t see past Al Ahli, Al Wahda, Al Jazira and Al Ain for the title, – the UAE’s own big four.

Listen to renowned Spanish football pundit Guillem Balague's views on the game exclusively with XPRESS and Radio 2 by clicking HERE

Guillem Balague is a key fixture in UK satellite broadcaster Sky Sports' coverage of Spanish football. He is also the UK Correspondent for AS, the Madrid-based Spanish sports newspaper and El Larguero, Spain's most popular sports radio show, attracting some 1.5 million listeners.
For all the latest news, interviews and opinions on Spanish and European football visit Guillem's website at www.guillembalague.com