U17 footballers get warm welcome in Abu Dhabi after sealing 2025 World Cup berth in Qatar
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi) The Under-17 youth national team arrived home from Taif, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday morning where they were greeted with warm embraces and garlands by UAE Football Association officials and supporters at the Zayed International Airport. The team reached the FIFA U17 World Cup, to be staged in Qatar from November 3-27, for the fourth time and its first since 2013. Majed Salem Al Zaabi's boys bowed out of the qualifying Asian Cup tournament in Taif at the quarter-finals stage in the knockouts, but it was enough to secure one of the eight slots for the continent, besides the hosts, in the 48-team expanded World Cup. The coach Al Zaabi was ecstatic to guide his team to the knockout stage, a task made arduous on the back of the 4-1 opening defeat against Japan. They beat Australia 2-0 in what proved to be eventually a decisive result in their game. In the final group match against Vietnam, Hazaa Faisal's last-gasp header in injury time cancelled out Hoang Khang's first-half opener. The Emiratis then had to endure an agonising wait until Japan topped Group B despite losing 3-2 to Australia in their match.That outcome meant Japan, UAE and Australia all finished on four points – with the young Whites going through ahead of Australia on the head-to-head criteria. The UAE took part in Italy 1991, Nigeria 2009, and in 2013 when the country hosted the tournament. The best finish has been reaching the Round of 16 in Nigeria. Al Zaabi praised the great attention the team received from Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE FA President, and other Federation officials since the start of the qualifiers. The team's preparations for the tough group with heavyweights like Japan and Australia were hampered on the eve of the tournament when the team doctor Abdulla Baroun passed away.
Issam Dahi, the national team manager, said: "The team's qualification for the World Cup was the result of tireless work by the technical and medical staff, as well as the players, who pledged to do their utmost to qualify for the World Cup, despite the circumstances surrounding the team just days before the start of the tournament and the loss to Japan in the first round."
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