UAE vs Kuwait preview

Qualification for the 2014 Fifa World Cup through the Asian Football Confederation, involving 20 teams, are ready to start. For UAE's football fans the focus is on Group B, where the Emirates will face Kuwait, Lebanon and South Korea to claim one of the top two spots, essential to progress to the final qualifying round. South Korea is the clear favourite to win this group: the Kwang-Rae's side is one of the best Asian team, despite recent problems due to injures, with Lee Chung-Yong and Son Heung-Min out, and poor performances, as 3-0 loss to rivals Japan showed. With Lebanon on the other side, as the probable weakest team in the group, UAE wil have to fight against Kuwait for the second place behind Taeguk Warriors. Kuwaitis won the Gulf Cup last season, defeating Saudi Arabia in the final but are coming from a bad 2011 Asian Cup. Srecko Katanec made some experiments recently, lining up young forwards Amer Abdulrahman, 22, and Salem Saleh, 20. To get the result they need, Emirates can also count on 20-year-old Ahmed Khalil, that scored twice in the latest friendly-macth against Qatar, and on veteran Subait Khater. The probable starting XI could be a 4-4-2 formation, with Majed Naser as keeper; Khalid Sabeel, Yousuf Jaber, Walid Abbas and Al Kamali on defense; Ali Al Wehaibi, Al Shehhi, Khater and Al Hammadi in midfield, and Abdulrahman and Khalil up front. UAE's job will be hard: in fact, despite several members of Kuwait's team will not be available, Serbian coach Goran Tufegdzic's side has a lot of weapons in its arsenal, starting from Saudi Arabia Ittihad FC's midfielder Fahad Al Enezi.