Today's Edition
Kumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
A change of venue for hosts UAE could go either way for Paulo Bento's national football side when they take on Kyrgyz Republic in a crucial home match in the third stage of the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifying path on Thursday.
After a great start in rallying to beat Qatar, the side has struggled with two losses and a draw before they take on their Central Asian rivals in Matchday 5 at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Of the previous two games at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, the national team lost 1-0 to Iran while being held to an upsetting 1-1 draw against North Korea.
After Kyrgyz Republic, UAE will take on Qatar in the return tie of the home-and-away format on Tuesday down the road at Al Nahyan Stadium. With home comfort in an Abu Dhabi double header, Bento's side would have played four out of six ties in familiar surroundings and make the most before it is too late. The top two sides from the Group A will secure automatic qualification.
Naturally, both UAE and Kyrgyz Republic managements spoke about the task at hand in the morning on the eve of the match before training one final time in the evening for the match with a 8.15pm kick-off.
For Bento, it is going back a step to prepare mentally for the immediate opponents, whom he described as employing "a simple process in their offensive phase with important players. They use tactically five or three players at the back in a 5-4-1 while using their striker in a direct game".
Bento identified the 6 feet, 1 inch-tall centre-back Valerii Kichin as a key player to be wary off while suggesting that the rivals may dig deep and counter-attack to find a way past the UAE goalkeeper.
Bento's counterpart in the Kyrgyz Republic camp, Maksim Lisitsyn, refused to see the match from the prism of the form book where they have the winning momentum with their first three points in their last game against North Korea while the UAE are yet to find their second win since their opener.
"There is pressure on any head coach of a national football team in the world," Lisitsyn said. "For me, there is no point in looking at previous matches and compare results. We focus on our game to get the result we want. The schedule is crowded but we did some light training before coming here and all the players are available."
The UAE and Kyrgyz Republic have played twice before but not in a World Cup qualifier. Lisitsyn did note that the two teams have played in an Under-20 World Cup qualifying match, but added: "They [the UAE] have high quality of players, for sure, but at this level, all teams are very capable.
"The position in the group is difficult for all teams at this stage. It will be an interesting match tomorrow and we will have to wait until then to see what happens."
Bento and his centre-back Mohamed Al Attas remained confident on delivering the goods while acknowledging that the UAE fans are getting impatient to see the campaign get back on track.
"I have seen the guys training very hard and in this moment, it's enough for me," Bento said. "The efforts have to translate on to the pitch. I am not one to hide my feelings and let them be known to the boys, like I did after the North Korea game. I can see the difference I wanted.
"Most of you [the media] analyse coaches based only on results, but we should be judged on the kind of work we are putting in, and I am very happy where we are right now."
