Also read: Omar Abdulrahman chips into history at Asian Cup – 2015 UAE football season review
Omar’s Panenka perfection
An incredibly tense Asian Cup quarter-final between the UAE and Japan had finished 1-1 after extra-time, with the Emiratis somehow holding their illustrious opponents, the defending champions, to just one goal. So penalties were needed to separate the two sides at Sydney’s gleaming Stadium Australia. Typically, Omar Abdulrahman would be the last of the UAE’s five takers, but Mahdi Ali sent him up first, designed to settle nerves, set an example for teammates and show Japan that the UAE were not intimidated by the occasion. Abdulrahman, by this point the tournament’s standout, casually floated his spot-kick straight down the middle. The UAE won the shootout 5-4 and went on the seal bronze – their best finish on foreign soil. Abdulrahman, and the UAE, had a new legion of fans, although Mahdi Ali instructed his No 10 to never attempt a Panenka again; apparently his heart couldn’t take it.
Kwon’s cup calamity
The 2015 President’s Cup final was a strictly one-sided affair. Played in stifling conditions in early June, Al Ahli and Al Nasr competed for the country’s most coveted trophy at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
Ahli, reborn after meekly surrendering the league title, dominated and eventually took the lead shortly after the half-hour. It stayed that way until the final minute of normal play, when Kwon Kyung-won inexplicably deflected Ahmed Ibrahim’s cross past Majed Naser and into the Ahli net.
Kwon hung his head. Cosmin Olaroiu could barley muster a response. Neither, too, could Ahli, as Nasr prevailed on penalties. With it, they had a first President’s Cup in 26 years.
Nasr’s players and dignitaries celebrated as such, with Ivan Jovanovic so lost in the victory that he initially forgot to do the post-match news conference. If only Kwon could have forgotten about what had transpired, as well.
Goodbye goal king
The numbers were staggering, just as they had been for the four years spent in the UAE. Asamoah Gyan departed Al Ain in July, off to China’s Shanghai SIPG for a reported €20 million (Dh80m) and an estimated €300,000 per year in salary. But, then, Gyan had become one of Asian football’s most consistent performers, despite his recent injury troubles.
The roll of honour: three UAE league titles, one President’s Cup, 95 goals in 83 league appearances, three Golden Boot awards, 128 goals in 124 matches in all, top scorer in last year’s Asian Champions League.
Gyan did not just score goals, but vital ones, too, including the winner in the 2014 President’s Cup final. Perhaps his most telling contribution, though, was that he came to the UAE before his peak, blazing a trail for foreign players, the league’s best ever import helping to export UAE football around the world. It was a stellar stint all round.
Kwon’s glorious Asian antidote
A remarkable match was given the most extraordinary finish. Al Ahli hosted Al Hilal in the Asian Champions League semi-final second leg, having drawn 1-1 in Riyadh three weeks previously. Seeking to become only the second UAE side to contest the final, the Dubai club went two goals up before half-time.
However, by the 65th minute, Ailton Almeida and Carlos Eduardo had levelled the scores, meaning the visitors were progressing on away goals. Ahli looked shot, while the life was sucked from the Rashid Stadium, too.
Yet deep into injury time, Everton Ribeiro curled a hopeful free-kick into the Hilal area, the ball dropped to Kwon and his shot somehow found the net. Cue mayhem, on the pitch and in the stands. Ahli were through, their President’s Cup villain now the most unlikely of heroes. They eventually lost the final to China’s Guangzhou Evergrande, but when all was said and done, Ahli had flown the UAE flag with real vigour.
Khalil the continental king
A fine year for UAE football was provided a fitting conclusion at the Asian Football Confederation awards in New Delhi. On stage for the player of the year title were two of the UAE’s finest footballers, both emblems for club and country.
Ahmed Khalil, Omar Abdulrahman and Zheng Zhi, Guangzhou’s Champions League-winning captain, comprised the shortlist for an award no Emirati had ever won. Until now. Khalil deservedly got the nod, an acknowledgement of a 2015 in which he scored four goals to help the UAE finish third at the Asian Cup, then hit double figures in the qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup/2019 Asian Cup.
For Ahli, Khalil found the net six times in the Champions League, including the goals that sealed the club’s first qualification from the groups. Previously wildly inconsistent, Khalil’s continental crown paid homage to his newfound dependability and reinforced the UAE’s recent rise. The warm embrace from mum, when Khalil arrived back in Dubai, spoke also for his colleagues and compatriots.
