Zaccheroni will need to create magic of old
dubai — It is quite the impressive CV that Alberto Zaccheroni has since he dipped his feet in football management 35 years ago. Over the three decades or so, the Italian has managed the big three in his homeland — AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, with him winning the prized Scudetto with the Rossoneri in the 1998-99 season. Success also came when he made the sojourn to the Far East, leading Japan to the AFC Asian Cup in 2011 and qualification to the World Cup in 2014.
And Zaccheroni, now 65, will have to recreate that magic here in the Middle East when he guides the UAE at the AFC Asian Cup on home soil in 2019. Following a brief stint by Edgardo Bauza after Mahdi Ali’s resignation, Zaccheroni was appointed last October with the sole focus being the continent’s most elite competition.
Zaccheroni had promised to build a competitive team with a strong personality and he charted out a roadmap in May right up until next January when the UAE host the Cup across eight venues in four cities.
He has carefully planned five camps across Europe and at home in the UAE as they try to transform a third place and a runners-up finish into gold. The UAE had finished runners-up to Saudi Arabia at home in 1996 and were third in the 2015 edition in Australia.
It has been a work in progress and there is no magic wand in football, but going by the evidence of recent results, Zaccheroni will have to step on the gas soon enough so that he can reinforce the faith and belief in fans that this UAE team can be a fighting unit and a force to reckon with in four months time.
The latest in a string of defeats was the 2-0 loss to Trinidad and Tobago in an international friendly in Girona, Spain, their base for the second overseas camp, on Thursday. The UAE, ranked 77 in the FIFA rankings, could have and should have done better against a side placed 91. But, apart from the slick passing in the initial stages and talisman Omar Abdulrahman’s trickery, there were hardly any other bright spots.
The two frontmen Ali Mabkhout and Ahmed Khalil were a bit subdued and were marked quite well by the Trinidad and Tobago defence. Although the UAE had some chances early on, it was only after Ismail Al Hammadi came on for his Shabab Al Ahli club mate Khalil on the hour, that they had a bit more bite upfront.
And the UAE backline of veterans Ismail Ahmed and Mohannad Salem alongwith Mohamed Marzooq were fragile against the visitors and the two goals that they leaked were a result of that.
Zaccheroni said after the game that the result doesn’t reflect the performance of his players but a few positive results always helps calm the nerves.
“Defeat for me is not a measure of team performance. The players will be assessed and mistakes will be corrected in the upcoming matches. Trinidad and Tobago were well prepared and we will work to remedy the weakness at the backline. The players are adapting to the 3-4-3 formation,” said Zaccheroni.
The Italian could perhaps be well served by the inclusion of a few Olympic team players, who won bronze at the just-concluded Asian Games in Indonesia, for the forthcoming camps in Barcelona from October 6 to 16 and the fourth and fifth camps from November 6 to 20 and December 15 to 31 at home. Players like Zayed Al Ameri, Ahmed Al Attas and goalkeeper Mohamed Al Shamsi could make it to the fold for the forthcoming camps. Zaccheroni had said so as well that he would be co-ordinating with the Olympic team and with that, he will have a bigger pool of players to work with.
Exactly 118 days remain for the AFC Asian Cup and the clock is ticking for Zaccheroni.