Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic has criticised the scheduling of the UAE team's camp in Austria as it clashes with their pre-season preparations as well as their engagements in the Arab Club Champions Cup.
The Arabian Gulf League champions are currently in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, juggling their pre-season training with the twin-legged Arab Club Champions Cup fixture against Algerian club Entente Sportive de Setif.
The Boss lost the first leg of the tournament opener 2-1 on Tuesday and Mamic is set to suffer an even bigger blow for the second leg on Saturday with a host of players being called up to the 27-man squad by UAE coach Alberto Zaccheroni.
With hardly any break during the summer and a packed schedule facing Al Ain, Mamic has blasted the timing of the UAE camp underway in Salzburg, Austria. The Croatian is already missing the services of a few young players, who are with the Olympic team in Malaysia, preparing for the Asian Games in Indonesia.
"My focus was on preparing and training the team for a long season full of challenges," Mamic told Al Ain's official website.
"I do not know what is happening now, but I do what I have to do and I communicate with the chairman and club members. The club's procedures are fully legal and consistent with the rules of Fifa, which determines how long players can be with the National team and that the players do not join if they are participating in official championships. We are currently participating in the Arab Club Championship and we also have the upcoming (Arabian Gulf) Super Cup match in Egypt. This means that it is not natural for the players to join the team camp while we still have five months to the start the (AFC) Asian Cup," he said.
"It means that there is enough time, especially during Fifa Match Days in September, where there are 15 days during which players can join the National team. We also have October, November and December. This means that we have a large amount of time to prepare the players. The player stays with his club during the period of preparation for the season because it is better to fight a challenge instead of playing a match against a third-class team in Austria.
"I do not think there is a team in the world that adopts such decisions that deprive the player of good preparation with his club before the start of the season without justification. I also heard that the UAE team in the past decided to put the players in a 40-day preparation camp! I'm not responsible for drafting laws, I do not consider myself a decision maker, but I am working to protect my team, myself and my club, and I'm prepared to do anything that contributes to our goals. But there is no bad faith or I'm working against the National team. On the contrary, what I said and do is directly in the interest of the National team and football," added Mamic.
"The strange thing is that the National team coach does not communicate with me, but I am the one who communicate with him. In the past three weeks, he has not asked me about the internationals or about Amer Abdulrahman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, Mohannad Salem or Ismail Ahmed,or about the training they are subjected to, and whether they face any problems or improve their situation," said the 46-year-old.
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