The UAE national beach football team will play three friendly matches against Lokomotiv Moscow FC this weekend ahead of the upcoming World Cup qualifiers to be held in Oman.
As part of the preparatory programme, the Beach Football Development Committee of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has organised matches against the Russian side on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Al Mamzar Beach in Dubai.
The Asian Qualifying competition will be held from February 24to March 4.
The three matches are part of the committee’s plan to pave the way for the UAE national team to qualify to the World Cup Finals to be held in Italy this year.
The UAE team qualified to the finals of the last three editions of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro (2007), Marseille (2008) and Dubai (2009).
Team coach Marcello confirmed that the UAE players are determined to qualify to the World Cup Finals. “Players are training daily at Al Mamzar Beach and motivated after getting the gold medal in the Asian Games competitions in December. They are determined to attain another achievement to emphasise the high level of UAE in beach football,” he said.
To enhance their preparations, a contract has been signed with Brazilian Jose Lopez to join the technical panel of the team as Fitness Coach. The aim is to raise the level of fitness for the UAE National Team’s players since they are to be involved in highly competitive matches in the Asian Qualifying competition with teams like Japan and Iran.
Lopez enjoys considerable experience in UAE, since he served in Al Wasl Club in 1996 and Al Sharjah Club from 2006 to 2009. Thus he is aware of the fitness abilities of the UAE’s players.
The UAE beach football national team’s training sessions comprised gym work in addition to technical training sessions on the pitch.
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