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Exactly a month to the day after Bert van Marwijk oversaw his first competitive win as the UAE coach, the Dutchman is hoping for a happy homecoming when his team resumes action.
The Whites will rock up at the Al Maktoum Stadium to face Indonesia in their second Group G fixture of the joint AFC Asian Cup and World Cup qualifier on Thursday night.
It will mark the first home game for the UAE during the current campaign and the first for the 67-year-old as well.
It would be stating the obvious but gleaning full points is paramount for the Dutchman, who guided the Netherlands to a runner-up finish at the 2010 World Cup, especially in front of the home fans.
With all due respect, Indonesia should be a piece of cake, going by the gulf that exists in the rankings. There is daylight between the two with The Whites ranked 66 and the Indonesians 101 spots below in 167.
But to go with that line of thinking would be a folly, the case in point being the UAE's match against Malaysia. The Whites had to weather the Malaysian storm before coming through 2-1 in Kuala Lumpur last month.
And that was not lost on Marwijk, who coached Australia at the World Cup in Russia.
"Two of the most important things for tomorrow (Thursday) is that we don't underestimate Indonesia and that we are ourselves," Marwijk said at his pre-match briefing on Wednesday.
"We have already had a few training camps the last few months. We were in Austria and Bahrain and now we prepared for five days. I prefer to prepare longer, but we used every minute of the training camp to develop our own style of football," he added.
To that end, Marwijk have additional firepower with the return of Shabab Al Ahli frontman Ahmed Khalil, who will partner Al Jazira marksman Ali Mabkhout.
And add to that, Omar Abdulrahman's presence, makes it a relishing prospect, although it remains to be seen whether both are named in the starting XI or will come off the bench.
Marwijk would've liked more game time for 'Amoory' in the Arabian Gulf League but Al Jazira, his new club, perhaps have been wise in slowly easing in the gifted playmaker following his injury lay-off. The 28-year-old has clearly been wrapped in cotton wool.
"He's an exceptionally good player, you see that every moment you work with him," Marwijk said of Omar.
"We were on training camps with him in Bahrain. We had to be very, very careful. We had contact with his club every day and I think we brought him further and further. And then, afterwards, I hoped he would play more at his club, but he played only maybe 15, 20 minutes in one game, played maybe 60 minutes. He's getting fitter and fitter. And I'm happy. He's maybe 90 per cent," he added.
About Khalil, he said: "He's had some issues that everybody knows for the past few weeks and I'm very, very happy that he's back. He makes a very a very good impression, he works unbelievably hard. I like him as a player and also as a person so I'm happy that he's in the squad."
james@khaleejtimes.com
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