The Marcelo Mendes side had some new players under examination in a double clash against neighbours Qatar
After a thrilling and extremely prolific National League, the UAE Beach Soccer National team came again together for a little training looking up front to the Asian Beach Games. With this idea in mind, the sporting direction of the Arab squad has started a program aimed at discovering and shaping new talents for the National side. One of its first stages took place this last weekend, with a double friendly fixture facing the teams of UAE and Qatar.
Mendes technical staff, with people such as former UAE internationals Haider Bashir or Mohammed Hamza providing their experience and knowledge, recruited 18 players out of the fourteen teams of the National League, and got them together in a kind of ‘Reserves Squad’ to face the Qatari side on Friday 27th. Although the formation had no previous international experience, Mendes and his assistants were highly impressed by the performance of the team, precisely because of the way they assimilated the tactical directives they were taught, to go on a tight but sweet victory over the neighbours (4-3).
On Saturday, UAE fielded their regular players, and the victory over the Qatari was heavier. Ail, Rami, Ali Karim and co. displayed their bigger experience to seal a 5-1 victory and look to the Chinese challenge with confident eyes, both for what they already have, and for all that new blood what they can count on.
