Five points adrift of qualification, without a win and struggling to score, the UAE’s hopes of reaching the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are slim at best. And they will face a new obstacle when they play North Korea on Saturday in Pyongyang – an artificial pitch.
The UAE team have spent five days in the Chinese capital Beijing trying to master the astroturf surface, and also the colder conditions they will experience in North Korea.
Two victories in the warm-ups matches against Chinese second division teams dispelled some fears about the surface.
But, there is a worrying precedent that the UAE will not want to follow. England famously fell to defeat against Russia on artificial pitch in Oct 2007, effectively costing them a place at Euro 2008.
However, Fahad Ali, the team’s administrative manager, was confident after the training camp in China.
“We picked Beijing because the city has stadiums with artificial grass.
“The players now have the experience of playing on this surface; they are all fit and confident of getting a good result against North Korea.”
Meanwhile, the new Saudi Arabia coach Jorge Peseiro dropped former Asian Player of the Year Yasser al Qahtani from the squad for the qualifier with the UAE in Riyadh on Wednesday after the striker missed a training session
The coach has decided against including Yasser Al Qahtani after he missed training and didn’t reply to repeated phone calls,” the Saudi team manager Fahed Al Musebeih said on the Asian Football Confederation’s website.
Al Qahtani was already going to miss Saturday’s qualifier against Iran due to suspension.
