The Argentine coach failed to lead the team to qualify for World Cup and bid farewell to the 'Gulf 25' early

Arruabarrena in 6 official matches with the 'white'. Win, draw and 4 defeats

  • National team coach Arruabarrena. From the source

  • The team's only official win with Arruabarrena was against South Korea. Cinematographer: Osama Abu Ghanem

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Sports circles are waiting for the UAE Football Association to determine the fate of the coach of the national team, Argentine Rodolfo Arruabarrena, regarding the possibility of continuing to lead the team or not, following the talk that is rumored in sports circles that the Football Association is currently studying the coach's file, because the team is waiting for important external benefits that require clarity of vision for him in the next stage, especially in terms of the future of the technical staff, knowing that the Football Association contracted with the Argentine coach in February last year He has a contract that runs until the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.

The national team recently completed an internal camp in Abu Dhabi, during which it played two friendly matches against Tajikistan and Thailand, as part of its preparation program for the upcoming external events, most notably participation in the 2023 Asian Cup and the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Arruabarrena led the team in six official matches, winning once, suffering four defeats, and drawing once.

The Argentine coach began his career in leading the national team in his last two matches in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, against both Iraq and lost with a clean goal and against South Korea and won with a clean goal scored by Harib Abdullah Suhail, during which the team won the qualification card to face Australia in the World Cup qualifying play-off in Qatar, but lost the match by two goals to one. The team's dream of reaching the 2022 World Cup for the second time in the history of UAE football has been dashed.

It is expected that the Football Association will discuss the team's march in the last period in detail from a technical point of view, and that the performance of the technical staff in general will be evaluated according to technical indicators and the outcome of its harvest with the «white».

Although the sports street was counting a lot on Arruabarrena to make a real shift in the level and results of the team, especially in light of the great support that the "white" enjoys from the Football Association, the team's results in the past period were disappointing, the latest of which was the farewell to the 25th Gulf Cup in Iraq from the first round, without any victory.

Emirates Today monitors the team's harvest with the Argentine coach, with whom he played 14 matches, including six official matches and eight friendlies, during which he won only one official match against South Korea, and lost in four official matches, including against Iraq with a clean goal in the World Cup qualifiers, and against Australia with two goals against a goal in the play-off qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, and against Bahrain and Kuwait in the "Gulf 25", which was held last December in the Iraqi city of Basra, and drew one match Also in the same tournament against Qatar, and did not achieve any victory in this tournament, and was deposited from the first round after finishing bottom of Group B with only one point obtained from a draw against «Annabi». The national team conceded 19 goals in 14 matches, while scoring 10 goals in return.

3 wins in the «friendlies»

Arruabarrena played eight friendlies, winning three, losing two, and drawing two. The sports street looks forward to the next stage witnessing the Football Association working to build a strong team to compete strongly in all tournaments. Arruabarrena said in televised statements after the last friendly match against Thailand, in which he won two clean goals in response to a question if there was any news about his contract with the national team and talk about the existence of offers he has in Brazil, he stressed that he prefers not to talk about the subject of the contract in the media, stressing that the important thing for him is to reach the goals he set at the beginning of his duties with the national team and work to bring about change and development in the UAE team.

■ The national team with Arruabarrena since February 2022 has appeared mediocre offensively and defensively, as in 14 matches, he scored 10 goals, and conceded 19.

National team matches with Arruabarrena

Official matches

■ Lost to Iraq 0-1 (World Cup qualifiers).

■ Beat South Korea 1-0 (World Cup qualifiers).

■ Lost to Australia 1-2 (World Cup play-offs).

■ Lost to Bahrain 1-2 (Gulf 25).

■ Lost to Kuwait 0-1 (Gulf 25).

■ Drew with Qatar 1-1 (Gulf 25).

Friendlies

■ Drew with Gambia 1-1.

■ Lost to Paraguay 0-1.

■ Lost to Venezuela 0-4.

■ Lost to Argentina 0-5.

■ Beat Kazakhstan 2-1.

■ Beat Lebanon 1-0.

■ Draw with Tajikistan 0-0.

■ Beat Thailand 2-<>.