The 'soul' of UAE's virtual striker style of play

Asian football, especially in the Southeast region, considers Messi as an ideal role model. Any player who plays with a technical flair is compared to Messi, including Chanathip Songkrasin (Thailand), Sardar Azmoun (Iran), Wang Shuang (China), Takefusa Kubo (Japan) and Omar Abdulrahman (UAE).

Even Cong Phuong was once called "Vietnamese Messi", then "Cambodian Messi"... But Xavi, Messi's teammate, believes that only Omar Abdulrahman is the most perfect version of La Pulga in terms of playing style.

The real "Asian Messi"

28-year-old Omar Abdulrahman possesses an extremely skillful left foot and outstanding tactical thinking. In addition to his ability to dribble and shield the ball, the UAE No. 10's ability to handle set pieces is among the best in the continent.

Once when invited to comment on a match with Omar, Xavi exclaimed: “I see him playing just like Messi.“. This Spanish national team legend believes that Omar is fully capable of playing for top European clubs.

Xavi exclaimed: 'I see him playing just like Messi'. Photo: ESPN

During more than 12 years of playing at the top level, Omar has spent more than 10 years fighting with Al Ain Club (UAE) from (2008-2018) and has won many prestigious titles in the National Championship (4 National Championships, 1 League Cup, 3 UAE Super Cups). Currently, Omar Abdulrahman is playing in the attacking midfielder position at Al-Hilal Club (Saudi Arabia).

Since his first call-up to the national team at the age of 20, Omar has been a key tactical player in every major tournament for the UAE. For the Gulf team, Omar Abdulrahman won the 2010 Gulf U23 Championship and the 2013 Gulf Cup. Whenever Omar excelled, the UAE won and vice versa.

In 2015, Omar's brilliant performance helped the UAE team win third place at the Asian Cup (2015). Up to now, Omar has played 74 times for the UAE national team and scored 11 goals, automatically being allowed to play if not injured or carded.

In 2012, Omar was ranked by the famous TV channel ESPN as one of the 10 best players in Asia in 2012. This midfielder born in 1991 was also ranked 39th in the list of 50 best players of the 2012-2013 season in all national championships around the world.

Through the "warm-up" screen

Omar Abdulrahman is more eager than ever to score against the Vietnamese team. Photo: CNN

The last time Omar played for the UAE team was the match against Thailand (1-1 draw) on June 13, 2017. He recently returned in the second qualifying round of the 2020 World Cup and has not scored any goals in 3 matches. In the matches against Malaysia and Indonesia, Omar was on the bench, and in the match against Thailand, he officially played as an attacking midfielder for number 7 Ali Mabkhout.

Striker Ali Mabkhout, the team's all-time leading scorer, is suspended. In addition, midfielder Ahmed Barman and right-back Khalil Ibrahim are absent due to injury. Therefore, all of coach B. van Marwijk's hopes are focused on the name Omar Abdulrahman.

By calling up 9 defenders and sending them to Bangkok (Thailand) for heavy training before facing Vietnam, it seems that coach B. van Marwijk is considering a defensive strategy, using a false striker. With one of the best individual skills in the continent, Omar has taken on all 3 tasks: creating, harassing and scoring.

With his rather unusual left foot and smooth movement, Omar can drift to the left and then suddenly accelerate straight into the middle. Surely Hung Dung and Que Ngoc Hai will constantly keep an eye on this UAE conductor, if they do not want to accept defeat.

After 3 warm-up matches after injury without scoring a goal, Omar Abdulrahman is more eager than ever to score against the Vietnamese team. This true number 10 is the soul of the away team at My Dinh Stadium in the upcoming match.