Exciting Al Ain playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has been included in the 24-man United Arab Emirates squad for next month's AFC Asian Cup in Australia.
23-year-old Abdulrahman played a key role in Al Ain's progress to the AFC Champions League semifinals this year. He has been selected in the squad by coach Madhi Ali, despite not having played competitive football since sustaining an injury during last month's Gulf Cup. UAE were defeated 3-2 by eventual runners up Saudi Arabia in the semifinals.
"Omar Abdulrahman is fine, his doctor reports he has started jogging. He needs five to seven days to get back to full fitness," coach Ali told the official AFC Asian Cup website.
UAE are in the all-West Asian Group C of the elite continental competition along with fancied Iran -- who impressed at June's World Cup in Brazil -- and neighbours Bahrain plus Gulf Cup winners Qatar.
Ali has named six players who were not part of the Gulf Cup squad for the elite continental competition beginning in January. Al Ahli goalkeeper Majed Nasser and Al Wahda centre-back Hamdan Al Kamali have been recalled to the side.
UAE will play friendlies against Jordan and Kuwait after reaching Australia on Wednesday. After the friendlies, Ali will trim his squad down to 23 players.
UAE -- who reached the final of the competition in 1996 when they were hosts -- take on Qatar on Jan. 11 in their first group game in Canberra.
Squad: Majed Nasser, Ali Khaseif, Khalid Essa, Mohammed Fawzi, Abdulaziz Haikal, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohamed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Mohanad Salem, Ismail Al Hammadi, Hassan Ibrahim, Majed Hassan, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Amer Abdulrahman, Haboosh Saleh, Mohamed Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman, Ali Mabkhout, Ahmed Khalil, Salem Saleh, Saeed Al Kathiri