DUBAI, June 1, 2020 / WAM / UAE Beach Soccer Team Captain Waleed Al-Mohammadi felt that winning the Asian Qualifying Championship for the World Beach Games is one of the important sporting achievements in the field of beach soccer in the UAE. .
The United Arab Emirates defeated Iran in last week’s Asian Qualifiers final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to win the title of the six-strong Asian team.
Al-Mohammadi said in his statement: “Winning the Asian Qualifiers title is one of the biggest sporting achievements in the Emirates’ beach soccer field, due to the difficulty of the competition between the participating teams and the qualification system.
He explained that the Beach Games are held every 4 years and last year in 2019 the AFC in Qatar nominated teams based on classification with no qualifiers, but the current edition has changed the format. Qualifiers were held within a group of the strongest teams in the continent.
He pointed out that holding the Beach Games every 4 years gives its qualifiers more importance and competitiveness than the biennial matches, which are comparable to the qualifiers for the World Championships.
He said: “This tournament set us up with a huge responsibility and commitment to progress from one tournament to the next, especially if we lose any tournament and face a direct bye to the qualifiers and face teams like Oman. The third Asian qualifier for the World Cup, the first in the quarter-finals, the responsibility and The level of commitment involved, and to face other strong teams such as world runners-up Saudi Arabia and Japan, champions in 2021, and Iran, Asian champions in the last 2023 edition.
It must be borne in mind that these teams were very prepared and ambitious to book one of the two qualified seats for the Beach Games.
And the UAE national team captain felt that the record achieved in the Asian qualifiers would be a boost to continue the success at the Beach Games.
He said: “What we have achieved in the qualifiers makes us want to achieve something higher because our recent win confirms our position and capabilities and will be a boost for us to achieve a medal at the World Games, especially if we treat ourselves. Every match is a final and the same focus as the Asian qualifiers and with mood.”
Al-Mohammadi explained that the national team will start its preparation phase next Monday and when the team assembles, a group of professional players will join Europe, which will support our chances at the next stage.