The appropriate combination and restoration of the team's strong personality

5 challenges await Arwabarina before "Gulf 25", most notably compensating for Mabkhout's absence

Ali Mabkhout is outside the new list of the national team.

Photography: Osama Abu Ghanem

The national football team is preparing for the 25th Gulf Cup tournament scheduled for the Iraqi city of Basra, during the period from the sixth to the 19th of next January, as it will play in the second group that includes the teams of Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, as Al-Abyad hopes to compete to win the championship title for the third time in its history after He had won it twice: in the “Gulf 18” in 2007 in the Emirates, and “Gulf 21” in 2013 in Bahrain during the era of former coaches, the late French Bruno Metsu and the national coach, Mahdi Ali.

Yesterday, the national team started an internal camp in Dubai that will continue until the date of travel to the city of Basra on the second of next month. Five challenges, most notably the importance of settling on the appropriate formation and combination with which the national team will compete in the Arabian Gulf Cup, and achieving a new achievement for the national team through which it proves its worth in the confidence of officials in the Football Association in it to take over the training of the national team, in addition to finding an alternative striker to compensate for the absence of the striker Ali Mabkhout who was excluded From the final list, although it constitutes one of the most important trump cards that Arwabarina relies on, in addition to that the coach is required to restore the strong personality with which the team was known, as this matter will be a preoccupation for Arwabarina after the recent failure of the team to reach the 2022 World Cup, although it was close toAchieving this goal and the historic dream after the national team had played the qualifying match for the World Cup against Australia, but lost it with two goals to one, so that the national team wasted a historic achievement that was just around the corner.

Another challenge facing the coach of the national team is the existence of a problem in the defensive system that needs to be addressed by the technical staff. During the last period, the national team played eight matches during the Arwabarina era, including three official and five friendly matches, during which it conceded 15 goals, while scoring five goals.

The final list of the national team, which was announced yesterday, included 25 players, out of 35 who had been included in the expanded list. The final list saw the exclusion of 10 players, most notably the striker of Al-Jazira club and the national team, Ali Mabkhout.

Arwabarina took over the national team on February 13 and led him so far in eight matches, including three official matches against Iraq and South Korea in the final qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, and the World Cup supplement match against Australia, as he won one match against South Korea with a goal scored by Abdullah. He fought and led him to qualify for the World Cup while losing in two matches against Iraq and Australia. During the era of Arubarina, the national team played five friendly matches, including a friendly match against Gambia that ended in a 1-1 draw, and two matches in the Austria camp last September: the first against Paraguay and lost it with a clean goal and the second Against Venezuela and lost it by four clean goals, while he played two matches in the last Abu Dhabi camp against Argentina and Kazakhstan, losing the first with five goals and winning the second with two goals to one.

The 5 challenges

1- Stabilizing the squad and creating an appropriate combination for the championship.

2- Restore the team's strong personality that it was known for.

3- Addressing a problem in the defensive system after it received a net

The national team scored 15 goals in eight matches.

4- Compensating for the absence of striker Ali Mabkhout, the most important trump card in the national team.

5- Achieving a new achievement for Emirati football through Khaleeji 25.

The exclusion of Shaheen Abdul Rahman

Argentine coach Rodolfo Arwabarena decided to exclude Sharjah defender Shaheen Abdul Rahman from the national team list after suffering a back muscle injury.

The Football Association said on its official page via Twitter: “Our national team player Shaheen Abdul Rahman is absent from the Gulf 25 in Basra due to a back muscle injury and his need for treatment and rest for two weeks.”

25 players in the final list of white

The coaching staff of the UAE national football team, led by Argentine coach Rodolfo Arwabarina, announced the final list of the team, which included 25 players out of 35 who were selected in the expanded list that was announced recently. The striker of the national team and Al Jazira club, Ali Mabkhout, is the most prominent player excluded from the final list.

The players selected in the final list are: Khaled Issa, Ali Khasif, Khaled Al-Sanani, Hassan Al-Mahrami, Khalifa Al-Hammadi, Walid Abbas, Khaled Al-Hashemi, Abdul-Salam Muhammad, Khaled Al-Dhanhani, Abdulaziz Haikal, Ahmed Jamil, Majed Rashid, Abdullah Ramadan, Majed Hassan, Falah Waleed, Khaled Al-Balushi, Hussein Mahdi, Muhammad Abdul-Basit, Ali Saleh, Tahnoun Al-Zaabi, Fabio de Lima, Hareb Abdullah, Yahya Al-Ghassani, Caio Canedo, Sebastian Tigali.

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