Saudi midfielder Mohammed Kanno to miss World Cup qualifier against China through injury

DUBAI: It takes something special to top the drama of a 98th-minute winner which kept UAE dreams of automatic World Cup 2026 qualification alive.

But fewer than eight hours after a bandaged Sultan Adil — in just his second appearance for club or country in 2024-25 — produced a brave diving header in Riyadh to salvage a 2-1 triumph against bottom-placed North Korea, a tweet announced the shock news that Paulo Bento’s tenure had ended abruptly.

“The UAE Football Association has decided to dismiss the head coach of the national team, Portuguese Paulo Bento, and his technical staff,” said @uaefa_ae.

Those few words, with no emotion and a strictly businesslike tone, ended a reign that only began in July 2023.

The hard-fought victory at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium left the UAE third in the third round’s Group A, four points away from a guaranteed return to football’s grandest stage for the first time since 1990 with two fixtures left. Failure to overturn this deficit to second-placed Uzbekistan — their next opponents — in June’s deciders means the team must successfully navigate up to three extra stages.

The question posed by the UAE FA was: “Is this enough?” Their answer — a definitive “no.”

Time will now tell whether this bold call, certainly not without merit, was a correct one.

A clear decision has been made that the 55-year-old, who became South Korea’s longest-serving manager and led Portugal to Euro 2012’s semifinals, was not the man to achieve this goal. Instead, the ninth permanent appointment since Mahdi Ali’s resignation in March 2017 will target this glory.

Bento’s tenure with the Whites featured 14 wins, six draws and six defeats. The nation has not been this close to its second World Cup appearance in several generations.

He will be remembered for successive hammerings of perennial rivals Qatar and being at the helm for the naturalization revolution, where an array of long-serving ADNOC Pro League stars and UAE-born or raised foreign nationals were integrated into selection.

Less-fond memories were created by a 2023 Asian Cup round-of-16 exit on penalties to tournament debutants Tajikistan, or this winter’s winless group-stage exit at the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup.

Performances that were often stodgy and staccato did not help, especially after the introduction of call-ups such as Sharjah forward Caio Lucas, club-mate Marcus Meloni, Fleetwood Town’s Mackenzie Hunt and Al-Ain’s AFC Champions League-winning center-back Kouame Autonne.

This month exemplified the testy relationship forged between Bento and UAE football.

The 2-0 defeat at Tehran’s intimidating Azadi Stadium against heavyweights Iran was not terrible on paper; nor was a characterful late show to prevail against unknown and unfancied North Korea.

Yet the loss to Iran contained a switch to a 5-4-1 formation unfamiliar to most players, in the wake of zero preparatory friendlies, with four-goal Qatar hero Fabio De Lima benched and little time on the training pitch due to a packed club fixture list. Only one effort on target was recorded during a contest elongated by floodlight troubles.

A selection and tactical shake-up into the usual 4-2-3-1 against North Korea produced a frustrating display, in which 69 percent possession and an attempt count weighted 20-7 in the UAE’s favor still bore many similarities to October’s dreary 1-1 draw against the same opponent.

These displays allied with the continued decision to neglect the national team’s record scorer, Ali Mabkhout, and Al-Wasl “Golden Boy” Ali Saleh.

There is a void around what happens next, with pure conjecture defining this nascent state of play in which no outstanding successor has emerged. The vagaries of reviewing external candidates present a tricky but worthwhile task. New names could arise in the coming days and weeks.

The move towards a supremo with domestic experience, reminiscent of the previous World Cup cycle when Rodolfo Arruabarrena replaced Bert van Marwijk, may produce several options.

Can Cosmin Olaroiu, finally, be tempted? A campaign that could yet deliver AFC Champions League Two, President’s Cup and ADNOC Pro League triumphs with Sharjah makes this pursuit complicated.

Paulo Sousa gained brief international exposure with Poland and has been a revelation at a Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club, who will be loath to lose him.

Milos Milojevic won the President’s Cup and league double with Al-Wasl last term, ending a 17-year wait for local silverware. His second campaign, however, has been strained and at 42 years old he lacks international exposure, unlike Olaroiu at the 2015 Asian Cup with Saudi Arabia.

Argentina great Hernan Crespo is unattached since November’s dismissal from Asian conquerors Al-Ain. A trio of fellow former ADNOC Pro League tacticians seem otherwise engaged, in Kuwait’s Juan Antonio Pizzi (Al-Wasl), Ukraine’s Serhiy Rebrov (Al-Ain) and Greece’s Ivan Jovanovic (Al-Nasr), whose UAE spell was scuppered by the pandemic.

UAE FA leadership chose a dynamic course of action on Wednesday. There were no media leaks about their intentions at any stage; nor were any successors rumored.

This blank slate must be filled in ample time prior to a June which could yet go down in history.