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UAE's Key Defender Ali Likely for Vital China Tie
The United Arab Emirates' strength will be beefed up if central defender Ali Ali returns to the line-up against China tomorrow night in a World Cup Asian Group B qualifier at the Al Nahyan stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Ali is likely to play in the game after a technical letoff from the officials of the world's governing body for the sport.
According to FIFA's match report from the UAE-Uzbekistan game, Ali Masoud and not Ali Ali who was booked in the 33rd minute against Uzbekistan last weekend.
Ali cautioned once in the match against Qatar is now likely to be in the starting line up for Thursday game.
Ali has been a key figure in the last line of defence with skipper Abdul Rahman Ibrahim and Jaleel Abdul Rahman. His presence adds more solidity in the last line of defence.
The UAE will, however, miss the service of Mohammed Qassim after a second booking in the same match.
The UAE team held two sessions of closed training yesterday and today after arriving late on Monday night from Tashkent.
China, the group leader with 10 points, hope to beat their rivals again after routing the Emirates 3-0 early this month in a home game.
The Chinese team was joined by two of their prolific German based pros Xie Hui and Yang Chen in yesterday's training to complete head coach Bora Milutinovic's 25 member squad.
China, however, also will miss two key players tomorrow. Goalkeeper Jiang Jing injured his hand and left defender Wu Chengying collected two yellow cards in the last battle against Uzbekistan.
With the advantages in height, strength and speed, the Chinese is most likely to use their fast forwards and head-attacks to deny their rivals' hope of taking a revenge. But the hot and humid weather proves as an extral factor for the Chinese to overcome.
"If we want to beat them, first, we have to beat the weather," said Bora Milutinovic today.
Both teams turned down the press interviews and held close training sessions Wednesday.
The UAE team, which ricked up seven points from five games, one match more than the Chinese, still hope they can finish the group runners-up ahead of Qatar, eight points behind China.
The group also includes Oman, who has been out of running with two points. Only the group leader secure a berth to qualify for the World Cup finals next year. The winner of the two runners-up in the Group A and Group B in the Asian zone will fight against an European team for another final spot.
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