UAE TO PLAY INDIA FRIENDLY IN PREPARATION OF 2022 WORLD CUP

The United Arab Emirates have confirmed that they will be playing against India in a friendly match as they look to gear up their preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar next year.

The UAE have been pitted against fellow World Cup qualification hopefuls Indonesia and Malaysia who are all in Group G in the qualifiers. They were supposed to play their match against Malaysia on the 25th of March and against Indonesia just five days after (30thbif March) but those fixtures have been postponed and will now be played in June.

The country's Football Association initially announced that they would like to host the entire games in Group G because of the Asian Football Confederation's decision to play the outstanding games in another centralized venue. Friday, the 6th of March is the deadline for the member associations to make submission of their proposals after which the Asian Football Confederation will arrive at a decision ok the 15th of March.

Regardless of that update, it is already confirmed that the United Arab Emirates will welcome India in Dubai where they will be playing the friendly game on the 29th of March. The UAE manager Bert van Marwijk has revealed that he is looking forward to the game as it would help him assess his squad and also know the strengths and weaknesses of his team ahead of the qualifiers they will now have to play in June later this year.

Marwijk led his team to his first game in charge after being appointed as the national team's manager in a 0-0 friendly draw with Iraq back in January. He will now oversee his side's games against Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam on the 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 15th of June respectively.