Will Omar Abdulrahman finally become the player that bridges the gap between Asian football and Europe? Football Paradise charts his course for greatness.
January 2015, it’s the AFC Asian Cup quarter-finals and Japan are playing the United Arab Emirates. The match was poised at one goal apiece, and penalties were set to be the decider. For the UAE, this was already their best performance in the competition since 1996, when, as hosts, they finished as runners-up, losing to neighbours Saudi Arabia, so the players on the night knew no matter how this night ended, they had already become history-makers back home.
Some would say the Emiratis were lucky to be able to take the game to a shoot-out, and they could be justified. Japan were wasteful with their chances, while the UAE didn’t show the attacking prowess that had carried them so far in the tournament. Nevertheless, it was going to penalties to decide who would enter the last four of the competition and to determine the legacies of some of the players left on the pitch. Amidst a hostile crowd in Sydney, Keisuke Honda stepped up, but his horrible night was completed with a poor penalty that blazed well over the crossbar. With the advantage in the hands of the UAE, up stepped Middle Eastern football’s poster boy, Omar Abdulrahman.
As his five-foot, eight-inch structure stepped up to the spot, he never looked confident. Constantly looking up and down, first staring at the top row at the stadium and then at the imposing Eiji Kawashima in goal, this penalty seemed certain to be just as bad the one that preceded his. Now in the box, he put the ball down on the spot, pecking a kiss at it, carelessly listened to the referee’s instructions and took five steps back with a face that had uncertainty written all over it. One stare at the goalkeeper and after that came one of the calmest yet most dominating skills in football – a cheeky, albeit expertly conducted, Panenka to dazzle the watching world.