"It's the time!" A call for the UAE to repeat the history
On 28 October 1989, the people of the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, would go to remember that day as the day marking the UAE's historic achievement. At the time, the UAE was forced to either gain at least a draw or win against a powerful South Korea, with both the final round's fixtures played in Singapore. It was almost dashed when Hwangbo Kwan gave the Koreans a 1-0 lead. But no, eight minutes later, Adnan Al Talyani, widely regarded as the country's greatest footballer, scored from a wonderful header to equalise 1-1. If the UAE held a stalemate for the entire game, it would qualify regardless of the Qatar-China result. And it did - after 90 minutes, the UAE held 1-1 over South Korea, ultimately joined the Koreans to Italy. The Emirati commentator Adnan Hamad was famous for calling Adnan Al Talyani "The Lights of Rome", seeing him as the hero who guided the UAE, first calling Al Talyani when he equalised against China in the same qualifier. By the time the UAE q...