Al Ain UAE travels to FIFA Club World Cup finals

Al Ain UAE will play in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in front of the last two seasons champion Real Madrid, becoming the first Emirati team to reach the finals of the World Championships.

Al Ain also became the second Arab team to reach the final of the FIFA Club World Cup after Morocco's Raja Casablanca 2013.

The UAE team participated in this tournament as the UAE League Champion last season, but it was not at the same level at the start of the season and the Arab Championship for the first round clubs.

He also emerged from the UAE President's Cup after losing five goals to three before Al Wasl in his last game before the Club World Cup.

But the team showed a different face in the tournament, which began on the tenth day of this month, when it beat three continental champions to reach the final.

"Our main goal is to have fun, play for fun and not think about achieving a goal in this tournament.The positive results were achieved by the spirit and determination", said goalkeeper Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Issa after leading his team to a semifinal win over River Plate champion South America.

Issa is one of the protagonists of the tournament and this is the main reason why Al Ain went into the final after scoring two decisive points in the first round victory over New Zealander Tim Wellington after a draw of three. goals for each team.

"It's great to see this team with players with high individual skills who can change the game at any time," said New Zealand coach Jose Figuera.

The Spanish coach pointed out "the huge potential of the offensive line composed of Brazilian Kayo, Egyptian Hussein Shahat and Sweden's Markus Berg, who scored four of the eight goals scored by Al Ain during the tournament ".

But local names also emerged in this tournament, where the team called "Violet" featured a group of prominent UAE players such as defender Mohamed Ahmed, who opened the scoring for the team. eye of the Esperance of Tunisia in the quarterfinals, in addition to young winger Bandar Ahbabi who scored for the same goal. In the meeting that ended with the win of the eye three to the champion of Africa.

Al Ain United played a tough run in the tournament: the team played three matches in a week, but Croatian coach Zoran Mamic thinks his team will be able to recover and prepare for the final, that he describes as the best time in the history of the club.

If Al Ain wins the final at Zayed Sports City, it will not only be the first Arab and Asian team to win the championship, but will break the monopoly of European and South American clubs since the start of the championship in 2000.

The final will be strong and exciting since Al Ain will face Real Madrid in the last two editions of the tournament, which seeks to win the title for the fourth time in history to reach a record for the highest number of teams crowned in the championship .