dubaiguy2011

I live in Doha...

flares

Omar Abdulrahman looks useful.

Ithought Ismael Matar could have played overseas when I watched him vs Brazil in 2005. Some Gulf Arabs would not consider Europe due to the culture change. They're quite happy living and playing in the UAE.

scrubbedexpat141

Just ignore him, blokes a know-it-all prick desperate to slate anything Dubai/UAE (despite the screen name, I know).

It's never going to be a great standard but it's still live footie so I'm going to go watch a game or two.

dubaiguy2011

Says the Recruitment Consultant....

scrubbedexpat141

And...?

dirtyleeds

Not really fussed about the football quality; it was the experience I was after. Looking at trying to find something in a couple of weekends time; 24th onwards

dubaiguy2011

If you're after an experience, the local derby in Abu Dhabi between Al Jazira v Al Wahda is always a big giggle (locals bitch slapping each other with sandals etc). Plus the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi is by far the best league ground... Al Ain v Al Jazira is also entertaining.

Cypselos

On the women at football front this is entertainingly retarded

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/foot...tir-on-twitter

Shawshanker

It's a decent experience, lots of singing, shouting, cussing and apparently theres some humour in some chants if you understand Arabic... plus tis free so why not, especially whilst the weather allows us outdoors. But yeah the footys pretty dire - League One level at best. Effort levels are lower than any level I can think of - except maybe early 1990's Serie A

Millhouse

I saw the best pitch invasion at a match here. All the locals ran on - something said on the tannoy, everyone ignored it. The police ran on and started chasing and hitting them. We were all asked to leave.

Kix

And you didn't record it on your mobile?

Shame on you!

dirtyleeds

I've done a game in qatar before and the crowd were all very choreographed! I'll be based in dubai this time though, ideally hoping for something post brunch on 25th, but anything that weekend should be fine

scot47

Can't you have a civilised discussion ?

britexpat76

You took only a slice of the reply............UAE football is shit, in fact that is being positive, and I played profesionally in the UK................

You may as well attend a U12 game at a school.

Miss Anne Thrope

.....sigh....

You see there are two things I just don't understand in the positions being taken by dubaiguy and britexpat:

1) Why the need to take such an obviously exaggerated position - UAE league football is like U12 football or the worst league in the world - and so aggressively defend it with an irrelevant claim to unimpeachable expertise - played pro or worked for a UAE club? And in dubaiguy's case, throw in a bit of random personal abuse as a bonus.
Nobody is claiming that UAE football is comparable to European big leagues nor is expecting to see that when they go to a match. Another poster claimed League 1 as a comparison. That may be a bit generous but lots of people attend League 2 and Conference matches and enjoy them. It's the same here with the added bonus of participating in a bit of local culture and colour that you might otherwise miss. Which brings me to my second point...

2) We all have numerous complaints about living here, many of them justified and we are right to express them. I certainly don't subscribe to the "if you don't like it, leave" school of thought. Most of us here make very positive contributions to local social and economic development, pay all of our fees and charges and would be severely missed if we left en masse. Although the political systems do not give us a direct voice, that doesn't mean we don't deserve one (and expats do have a good deal more indirect influence on policy and governance than is usually publicly acknowledged). However, that is not the same as pouring vicious scorn and derision on everything connected with local culture and institutions. There are many things here which are good and valuable and many wonderful local people. If you really hate everything about this place so much, why on earth would you stay here?

Anyway, for those who waded through all that, here is a treat. UAE played Oman in yesterday's Gulf Cup qualifier. UAE had already qualified as group winners by virtue of two wins; Oman needed to win, likely by more than a goal to survive. UAE team was mostly young reserves. It was a tight match with the UAE repelling wave after wave of Oman attacks which really lacked any penetrative power. Then UAE's Ahmed Khalil came off the bench (for Ismail Mattar) and did this in the space of four minutes:



Positioning awareness and finishing worthy of RvP - set up the first goal for himself to finish and calmly judged the incredibly acute angle of the second goal despite all that forward momentum (he's a big guy). Oh and he plays for Al Ahli of Dubai (though he hasn't been showing that kind of form recently in the league in fairness). U12 level????