National team player Caio Lucas confirmed that the upcoming “Al-Abyad” match against Qatar, the day after tomorrow, in the Asian qualifiers playoff for the 2026 World Cup, will be difficult and historic. He emphasized that the team must play 90 minutes without mistakes to achieve the dream of qualifying for the World Cup.

Caio told “Emarat Al Youm” that the team will enter the match with high morale following the important victory over Oman yesterday, 2-1, explaining: “We successfully completed the first task by winning against Oman, but the main mission will be against Qatar, which is to secure the ticket to the World Cup.”

He added: “We will play a historic 90 minutes for UAE football, for all players and fans, and we fully understand the importance of the match. Therefore, we started preparing immediately after our match against Oman and focused on all the details of the upcoming game.”

He continued: “We know we will play against Qatar on their home ground and in front of their fans, but we have the ability to handle these conditions and will give everything we have to win.”

Caio Lucas spoke about the Oman match, saying: “It was a tough and challenging game for us and the fans, especially since the opponent scored the first goal early, and we did not play well in the first half.”

He added: “Coach Olario Cosmin spoke to us after the first half, telling us to fight for the win. Indeed, our performance improved and we entered the game atmosphere better in the second half, showing our strong character that helped us come back in the score.”

The player who scored the second goal stressed that the team did not feel despair, saying: “Despite the difficulty of the match, the quick passage of time, and our continued trailing in the score, we did not feel despair and had great determination to come back in the match.”

He continued: “I believe we deserved to win, but we must forget this match and focus on our game against Qatar, which will be more difficult because it will directly determine the team that qualifies for the 2026 World Cup, with no room for compensation.”

He added: “We have great confidence in ourselves and will fight to achieve the dream of UAE football. The situation for us will not differ much from our match against Oman, and we will work to give our best and focus on avoiding mistakes, especially since this match will be decided by small details.”

Caio addressed a message to the UAE fans, saying: “There are no words to describe what the fans offered during our match against Oman. The atmosphere was wonderful at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, and we felt like we were playing at our home stadium in the UAE. We thank the fans and promise them that we will give everything we have so that Tuesday ends happily for UAE football with our qualification to the World Cup.”