UAE still suffers from Van Marwijk departure, say former officials

UAE

Football Association is currently searching for a new manager as they decided to part ways with Jorge Luis Pinto last month. The Colombian was the second coach being hired after

Van Marwijk

was dismissed last December. Pinto left the team before participating in a competitive match and the FA officials will have to decide on a successor in their weekend meeting. Among many options, Dinamo Zagreb coach Zoran Mamic and former national team manager Mahdi Ali have a better chance to get the job. 

Bet Van Marwijk was dismissed from the UAE team after his team was eliminated in the group stage of the Gulf Cup of Nations. But former team supervisor

Dr. Hassan Suhail

believes that the UAE National Team was on the right track with the former coach and the officials must think about returning the former coach.

“It would be a very appropriate option,”

Suhail told 

Al Ittihad

.

“Van Marwijk is a global coach, and he had tremendous successes - he just needs a full opportunity without haste.

“The team have been suffering for a long time, and before the arrival of Marwijk, the federation developed a comprehensive plan for the team's development. But the results affected its implementation and the benefits from it, and after the departure of the committee the plan was halted.

“The national team have changed more than four times in less than a year, in addition to changing three coaches recently. These are decisions that have contributed to the team’s suffering.”

Among other former officials who have supported Van Marwijk is

Ismail Rashid

, the former team manager during Van Marwijk’s time.

“In the event that Van Marwijk was included in the names [being considered] now and he came back, this would mean the start of the team's return to the right path.

"Because the coach’s sacking has already affected the team, especially since he and his technical team had been doing a lot of really distinguished work.”

Van Marwijk’s assistant coach, Roel Coumans, has said that the Dutch manager is open to reprising the role.

“I think even the head coach would be eager to finish his job,"

Coumans said.

"He’s always asking if there’s some news with the UAE national team. He said in the beginning that he thought they would regret the decision to sack us, because he knew we were on the right way. He’s not happy that this was his last job.”

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