UAE captain Walid led his nation to third in the last Intercontinental Cup and means to go a step further in 2021
In an historic tenth edition of the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup in Dubai, the captain of the host nation, Walid Mohammed, speaks openly about how a disappointing summer in Russia has added extra drive to the UAE’s 2021 campaign.
It is every beach soccer player’s dream to play at a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, and despite qualifying for the 2021 edition in Russia, the UAE were struck by bad luck when a number of players caught Covid and were unable to compete.
Walid was one of the unfortunate squad members, and the squad failed to make it out of the group stage. From disappointment though, top athletes are able to take positives…
“Nothing can make up for missing the World Cup but I can definitely say am going to give everything to represent my country as always, and I have extra motivation after the bad luck in World Cup.”
“On top of that, the Intercontinental cup is the most important competition after the World Cup and what make this event so special for us is that it’s in our home.”
The last edition of the Intercontinental Cup, one of the flagship beach soccer events in the calendar, took place in 2019 where the hosts matched their best-ever finish, winning bronze medals.
Walid believes that this year, they can go one step further.
“We are always aiming for better. Reaching the final is the plan, but before that we consider each game in the group stage as a final. In last edition, we lost on penalties against Iran who won the title.
“We saw many surprises happen at the World Cup. We had some dark horses in Japan, Switzerland and Senegal, I think in the 2021 Intercontinental Cup we’re going to have a new champion. Inshallah it is UAE’s time….”
For more information on the coming Tecnotree Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai 2021, please visit beachsoccer.com.
