UAE in the Bahamas for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Ali Karim has played in 12 matches at four world finals and scored six goals.

The UAE team after arrival in the Bahamas. (Photos courtesy of FIFA)

DUBAI: A squad of ambitious Arab footballers, despite having completed a draining 12,500km journey from the UAE, are hoping to benefit from some home comforts this week as they prepare to contest the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas, starting Thursday.

White sandy beaches, the reflection of an Atlantis Hotel glimmering in the crystalline Caribbean Sea and the inescapable sense of wealth oozing from the sun-kissed, cruise-ship tourists could all help UAE coach Mohamed Bashir and his band of Emirati beach ballers acclimatize.

Not that a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is unfamiliar territory for this team. Unlike the UAE men’s national football side, which qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy but is yet to replicate the achievement in six attempts and almost certain to miss out on next summer’s showpiece in Russia, the Emirates’ beach soccer team has appeared at four of the past six tournaments. In 2009, the country became the first — and as yet only — Asian nation to host the event.

Ali Karim, the 12-man squad’s oldest player at 36, is an ever-present force for Al-Abyad, having made his national debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. He has featured heavily at each of his country’s four appearances, scoring six times in 12 games, and although 10 years have passed, his passion for the game — and his pride at representing his country — continues unabated.

When the UAE met Lebanon in the semifinal of the Asian qualifiers last month, a suspended Karim watched anxiously from the stands in Malaysia. Knowing victory would guarantee the winning team a place in the Bahamas, a nervous match ended with theUAE edging a dramatic penalty shootout. Karim, the absent national team captain, burst into tears among the fans, later conceding that “things got so tense, I could not control my emotions.”

In the next two weeks, he is hoping to play a more impactful role as his nation attempts to make history in the 16-team tournament. While Bahrain became the first Gulf country to reach the quarterfinals in 2006 and Iran emulated that feat in 2013 and 2015, UAE has never progressed through the group stages at a World Cup. The Emiratis face a difficult task in ending that run this year, having been drawn with world champion Portugal, Concacaf champion Panama and South American finalist Paraguay.

Yet Karim is confident.

“When we got back home [from Malaysia] we didn’t rest,” the Al Nasr skipper told FIFA.com. “We stepped up our training for the World Cup, especially when we found out who we were playing. I think we’ll do well because of the skill levels we’ve got now. We can make it to the second round and we’ve got our hearts set on it. We’re excited at the idea of another major achievement.”

The Emiratis will get their campaign under way Friday night against Paraguay in the 3,500-capacity Nassau Stadium at Malcolm Park. The arena, which was built at a cost of $4 million and overlooks the original Atlantis Paradise Island hotel, is the largest permanent structure ever constructed for a FIFA Beach Soccer event. Such expenditure has been called reckless by some residents, who would have preferred to see money invested in improving the lives of the lesser-seen Bahamians living outside the tourist-heavy downtown area.
The most recent survey by the Bahamas Department of Statistics reported 12.8 percent of the country’s population live below the poverty line, while local newspapers regularly carry stories of corruption, rape, murder and robbery.

“We are approaching elections so it is difficult to know how things will unravel,” Denko Johnson, a Bahamas resident working in finance, told Arab News. “It’s possible some of the money from the beach soccer will filter through to the poorer communities, but I wouldn’t be too hopeful. It might help the government in terms of tourist numbers and meeting their quotas, but the poorer communities here are unlikely to see any of the benefits.”

Sheldon Longley, sports editor of The Nassau Guardian, is more hopeful.

“There has never been a beach soccer event of this magnitude in the Caribbean, so there is a lot of excitement building,” Longley said. “Generally, Bahamians support sport very well, so we are expecting big crowds. The tournament in February had an overflow of people lining the nearby bridge trying to watch the matches, so I expect it will be the same,” he said.

The stadium was finished in January and hosted the following month’s Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship; an event that was fully embraced by residents. With the local organizing committee distributing match tickets for free for this week’s tournament, sell-out crowds are being anticipated once more.
As the UAE squad makes its way to the stadium tomorrow night, the plentiful tournament posters emblazoned with the words “Beach Soccer World Cup — Bahamas 2017” will ensure they do not forget where they are. Given their growing pedigree in this tournament, however, that should not mean they feel any less at home.