Dr Abdullah Misfer: Leading the future of UAE football

Martyn Thomas 10:31 03/07/2014
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  • The good doctor: Misfer during his time at Al Dhafra in the Arabian Gulf League.

    Having dedicated two decades of his life to secure a full-time top-flight club job, it was a surprise to many that Dr Abdullah Misfer decided to walk away from the Arabian Gulf League after just two seasons.

    He was not short of suitors either, following a year with Al Dhafra that saw the team from the Western Region reach the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions for the first time.

    Indeed, the 2013-14 AGL Coach of the Year nominee believes that with better backing from the club’s hierarchy he would have been able to deliver Dhafra their first piece of major silverware.

    For a club founded only 14 years ago that would have been some achievement, yet it was the lure of doing something on the international stage with the UAE Under-19s that convinced the Emirati to turn down several offers to stay in the AGL.

    Misfer began work with the age-group side last week as he oversaw a four-day training camp at the UAE Football Association headquarters in Dubai, running the rule over a deliberately large pool of 53 youngsters.

    It was the first step on a path that he hopes will end in qualification for next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, via a top-four finish at the AFC U-19 Championship in Myanmar this October.

    “There was nothing wrong at Al Dhafra,” he says. “But from my side I was looking for another challenge. I had good results with Dhafra and I believe that if they had spent a little bit more money and supported the team with good professionals, we could have won one of the cups in which we reached the semi-finals.

    “I did my job because my contract was for one year, and after that I had many teams making me offers, better than Al Dhafra, but I preferred to work with this team because I wanted to achieve something.

    “This team will play in the AFC U-19 Championship finals and there is a chance to be one of the best teams in Asia. We can then qualify for the World Cup and this is another target.”

    Having been beaten 2-1 twice by Japan last month, and placed with Australia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan in Group B for the finals, Misfer admits his new side will have to work “very hard” to achieve their ambitious goal and emulate the AFC U-19-winning UAE team of 2008.

    The bulk of that side – which contained Ahmed Khalil, Hamdan Al Kamali and Amer Abdulrahmnan – now forms the backbone of the senior national team, and Misfer too can call on a couple of rare talents.

    Al Jazira forward Ahmed Rabea (below) and Al Wasl midfielder Ali Salmeen enjoyed breakthrough seasons domestically last term before making their senior international debuts in the UAE’s tour of Switzerland.

    Rabea and Salmeen will remain available to Misfer despite their rapid elevation to the senior ranks, and he believes their time working under Mahdi Ali will benefit the U-19s.

    “That will give them more confidence and good experience to support this team,” the former UAE caretaker coach said. “They have strong personalities and control for themselves and for the team. I think they can help a lot.”

    Misfer, though, does concede concerns over burnout, particularly with Rabea, to whom he prescribed 15 days complete rest following a season that has seen the 18-year-old play 29 times for Jazira and ended only in mid-June.

    Misfer was happy with the young forward’s response last week and believes he has a unique role to play at junior level.

    “When he (Rabea) plays for the senior team, like Al Jazira, the quality of the players is different. That means he doesn’t have to work as hard to show [his quality] because they will help him a lot,” he adds.

    “With the ‘A’ national team the same, but here, with this national team he needs to be the first one who the team depends on.

    “Other players don’t have the same experience, the same quality, so that means he should work for the team more than others.”

    Rabea’s professionalism was called into question by his former club coach Walter Zenga at times last season, with the Italian questioning whether the Arabic lifestyle was conducive to top-level football.

    But while Misfer admits work needs to be done to improve youth academies at clubs, he believes the current ‘class of 1995’ could be the first truly professional generation to come out of the UAE, as they were only young when the league went full-time in 2008.

    “Six years ago they (the U-19s) were 13- years-old. Then they started their professional life from 14, 15 – they have led a really professional life,” he explains. “Older players, who most of their life they spent as amateurs, you cannot change them basically – mentality or physically.

    “So, we are expecting that these players can be really professional and I think in the future we can see good players from UAE in Europe, because they have the quality.”

    Misfer has never shied away from hard work during a 20-year career that has seen him take on numerous roles within the UAE FA before joining Dibba Al Fujairah and then Dhafra.

    And he says young Emirati coaches need to follow his example if they are to have an impact in the UAE top flight.

    “I can talk only about myself [but] I worked hard to be here, to be at Al Dhafra,” he added. “Any Emirati coach should work harder than other coaches, because it is not easy. UAE teams bring in very good coaches, big names and to be in the league and play against these names is not easy, it is very hard.

    “But I think any coach, from UAE or anywhere else, he needs to work hard and improve himself. For this type of coaching you do not need a nationality, you need quality.”

    It is a quality now being passed onto the new generation of Emirati footballers.

    THE ROAD TO NEW ZEALAND…

    AFC U-19 preparation
    Misfer has planned two more get togethers during Ramadan before a trip to Slovakia in August, where the UAE will play nine games, as the squad is shrunk to 24.

    U-19 Championship finals
    The UAE face a tough task to emerge from Group B, but despite defeats to Japan last month, they will not necessarily fear anyone having won all four of their games to get there.

    The UAE’s 2009 U-20 World Cup experience
    In Egypt, a side coached by Mahdi Ali and containing more than a dozen players who have since gone on to win full caps – including the late Theyab Awana – reached the quarterfinals, before bowing out to Costa Rica 2-1 after extra-time.

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