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Gyan capture masks UAE's failures
Australian international Sasa Ognenovski gave his reasons last week for turning down a move to the United Arab Emirates. "I don't think it is the greatest competition&I'm not so sure about the quality of football in the UAE." The defender may be reluctant to leave his Korean club, Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, but Asamoah Gyan had no qualms about exiting the Premier League and Sunderland to spend a year on-loan with Al Ain.
If this is a start of a trend of young and ambitious international stars heading to the UAE as part of clubs' plans for the long-term development it would be something worth celebrating. If not, then it could be a waste of time for all and cash for some.
The smart money is on the latter despite the fact that, at 25, the Ghanaian's best is yet to come unlike players such as Fabio Cannavaro who arrived in the twilight of their careers tempted by warmer climes, fewer games, bigger pay packets and less stress. The likes of David Trezeguet and Diego Maradona raise the league's profile temporarily but are just the latest in a list of big names that come and then go while doing little to help the local scene develop. What would really help increase the standing of UAE football is sustained success or at least a scent of some to come.
Only the most patriotic UAE fan would disagree that the local league is lacking in quality. The real debate is about whether it is moving in the right direction. In relative terms, the signs are not encouraging. Al Ain won the 2003 Asian Champions League and finished as runners-up two years later. Since then - and standards in the competition have risen considerably - it has been pretty depressing stuff. Eleven teams have entered the competition since it expanded in 2009 and not one has finished in the top two in the group to progress to the second round.
The same requirement exists for the national team in the third round of qualification for the 2014 World Cup in order to progress to the final stage. That same failure looks likely. UAE has played two of the six group games so far and lost both. The first was a 3-2 home defeat against Kuwait that flattered the vanquished and then came a 3-1 loss against a Lebanon side that had just been thrashed 6-0 by South Korea. Next are two games against South Korea after which it could all be over. Coach Srecko Katanec, under pressure following a dreadful Asian Cup in January, received his marching orders soon after the final whistle in Beirut. The FA said he lacked the ability to motivate the players, he said the players were short on fitness.
Patience is in short supply too. Since the solitary World Cup appearance in 1990, there have been 21 coaching changes. Clubs are similarly ruthless. Abu Dhabi newspaper The National calculated in May that in less than three full Pro League seasons, 16 teams had been in the top tier and they had changed coaches 41 times. David O'Leary was handed a three-year contract by Al Ahli and just 15 matches after telling the media that he need all that time to make significant improvements, he was gone.
"I know that in this part of the world it is common to replace the coach when things don't go your way," Carlo Nohra, the chief executive of the Pro League, said: "I fail to understand the reason for this. It's all about a plan and perseverance and when you have a plan to see it through. Football here is handled on an emotional level, to a large degree."
That was in evidence in 2009 when Sharjah withdrew from the AFC Champions League with only four group games out of six completed in order to focus on a domestic relegation battle. The mood of angry AFC officials was not helped by the news that Sharjah stayed up.
The AFC were not the only ones annoyed. Those at home recognized that such amateur acts had no place in the professional league that was set up with great fanfare in 2008. That move was the first step in the goal of seeing the league become pre-eminent in region and then continent. Neither has happened and in June this year, the league was disbanded by the government and put under the control of the UAE FA and an interim committee.
It was something of a surprise as in 2010-11 had there had been signs that in absolute terms, things were improving. The season had been a decent one with a 24% rise in attendances to pass the 3,000 mark. Low crowds have always been a problem especially with 12 clubs in a country with a small population that contains a significant number of foreign workers who often prefer cricket.
That's why Al Jazira's success, largely responsible for the increase in attendances, has been encouraging. The club, who share owner Sheikh Mansour with Manchester City and whose CEO Phil Anderton is a leading candidate to replace Garry Cook at Eastlands, has long-term plans that don't begin and end with big-name veterans and short-lived coaches. The stadium was often full thanks to slick marketing and aggressive promotion that reflected the wants and needs of local fans. On the pitch, the Abu Dhabi club does things differently too and it is probably no coincidence that a first title came in 2011 in the third year of coach Abel Braga's contract. Anywhere else the Brazilian would have long been out on his ear.
Al Jazira provide a practical alternative to usual practice. It just takes others to learn but that is easier said than done when they don't have to. Clubs are often playthings for rich owners happy to give fans expensive signings and free tickets. That may sound attractive but the absence of any need to make money has led to little emphasis on marketing, ticket sales, community engagement or the long-term development of players - which is essentially everything that a healthy league needs.
The basic talent is there - "crazy talent" in the words of Katanec. The Under-20s reached the quarter-final of the 2008 World Cup while the Under-19s won the 2009 Asian title. Producing talented youngsters is one thing, turning them into international stars is something that the country has failed to do unlike their Asian rivals.
More and more are calling for UAE to do the same. "It is difficult for the guys to grow up in this league and never leave it," said Katanec. "It would be like if you and I played against each other every day. We would not learn much. We would not get better."
Legendary Saudi Arabian striker Sami Al Jaber agreed just last week. "In this region, we are just looking down at our feet; we are not looking ahead. We need vision if we need to catch up with the countries of the Far East. We need to identify our best talents and send them abroad to the best leagues." Al Jaber will surely have noticed that just three hours after the news of Gyan's departure from Sunderland was announced, an Asian striker, Ji Dong-won, just 20, was scoring his first goal for Sunderland since arriving from Korea in the summer.
UAE can do without Asamoah Gyan despite the headlines. Clubs could do worse than invest in the less glamorous end of the spectrum to develop players, some of which can then go to be big-name stars in other leagues.
