UAE’s De Lima wants to do ‘something special’ with national team
With his debut made, finally, in a major international tournament, Fabio De Lima is determined to give back to the country that afforded him the opportunity.
The UAE forward, born in Brazil but naturalised in 2020, has become a standout performer in Emirati football since arriving at Al Wasl in 2014. With the Dubai club, De Lima has scored close to 200 goals, his 156 in the UAE top-flight lifting him to fourth in the competition’s all-time list.
Having first represented the national team in October 2020, De Lima is now an integral part of that side, too. On Sunday, he helped the UAE to a 3-1 win in their 2023 Asian Cup opener against Hong Kong in Qatar, providing the national team, semi-finalists in the past two editions, a strong start to what they hope will be another positive campaign.
“For me, I’m very happy to represent the national team,” De Lima told The National. “I’m a long time in the country, and this for me is amazing. For myself, for my career. I give my best always for the country and for the national team.
“And, especially, we want to do something special for the fans, for the people born in the country, for the people living in the country. So we’re focused on that.”
On Thursday the UAE take on a Palestine side playing for much more than a place in the knockout stages or professional pride, before they conclude the pool on January 23 against Iran, one of the tournament’s favourites. Yet the Hong Kong win sets the UAE up well for a top-two finish that will secure a spot in the last 16.
“First game, we know the pressure for everybody; before we were a little bit nervous,” De Lima said. “But when we go to the pitch we make a good game, a tough game. It’s so important for us that we take three points. In such a short tournament, we know it’s very important to start with a win.
“Now we have two more games, we focus on the next game against Palestine. Again, we have to win against them. We are focused to take three more points.”
Remarkably, Paulo Bento, appointed as UAE coach in July, is the fifth manager De Lima has worked under in his three-and-a-bit years with the team.
“The coach is from Europe, he has a little bit different style from the last manager [Rodolfo Arruabarrena],” De Lima said. “We follow what he wants and I think we follow that well. You saw in the first seven games with him, we lost only to Oman.
“But in this competition, we have difficult games to come. We will be ready and, hopefully, we take the points to pass to the next round. Step by step our team will stay together, and Inshallah, we go to the final.”