“This year, we are stronger than ever”

UAE captain believes that the team has the experience it takes to fight for the top prize at the Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai 2018

Walid Mohammad Mohammadi, captain of the UAE national beach soccer team, is looking forward to hitting the sand in the coming Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai 2018, which will take place between the 6th and the 10th of November at Kite Beach, Dubai.

The experienced forward, one of the key men in Mohammad Abbas’ team, is absolutely confident that the team is going to give some top level performances: “I trust my team. This year it is going to be different, because we are more experienced than the previous editions. The team is more mature, players have more experience, even in international competitions, and we feel stronger than ever”, he said. 

Walid knows that the UAE side will face really tough competition, but this didn’t appear to faze him: “The Intercontinental Cup is always highly competitive, with the best teams in the world taking part. But we know what we are capable of, and we want to make it to the semi-finals again. We are really motivated, and our team has enough quality to think about achieving something big in this competition”. 

For the second consecutive year, Walid was shortlisted in the list of the 50 Best Players of the year, which he hopes can also help the team. “It is always good to be there, and it proves that if you work hard, you can attain your goals. I am very thankful for having been selected again this year, but this is only the beginning, something to help me, and the team, push harder to achieve our dreams.” 

The UAE national side are preparing tirelessly ahead of the Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai 2018, with double training sessions daily combined with up to ten friendly games. In fact, the squad have just returned from a few days in a training camp in Kuwait, where they took on the Kuwaiti national selection in four different friendlies. 

After losing the first match, a game in which coach Abbas tried new players and experimented with different resources, the Emirati won the following three games in quite authoritative fashion: 7-1, 6-1 and 5-1. 

The team will continue with this training schedule now, before facing Oman and Morocco in more friendly games over the following weeks. The team have twenty days in which to fine-tune their game plan, in order to tackle the Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai in top condition. And they will need it if they want to compete with the powerhouses that await them in Dubai…