Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Argentine Rodolfo Arwabarena, head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team, announced the squad list in preparation for the 25th Gulf Championship, which included 26 players.
The list saw the ouster of 32-year-old forward Ali Mabkhout, which sparked widespread controversy on Twitter, as this decision was contested by some Emirati fans.
The Al-Abyad coach did not reveal the reason for Ali Mabkhout’s exclusion, while according to the local press, the failure to call up the Al-Jazira club striker is due to technical reasons.
Ali Mabkhout is regarded as his country’s historic top scorer, with 80 goals, having participated in 105 international matches.
The UAE national team, in the absence of its veteran striker, will play a friendly match with Lebanon on December 30, in preparation for the Gulf Championship, to be held in Basra, Iraq.
Al-Abyad is in the second group, in the Gulf Cup 25, together with the teams: Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The UAE national team has won the title on two occasions, in 2007 and 2013.
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