UAE & Senegal: Upstart Olympic Entries

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

The UAE’s soccer team has been drawn to play Great Britain in this summer’s Olympic Games in London. The UAE will also face Uruguay and Senegal in the group stages of the 2012 Games. The team was drawn to face the hosts in the capital on July 29 in a ceremony at Wembley Stadium in London this week.

Senegal was the last team to qualify for the tournament after defeating Oman 2-0 earlier this week. Senegal will be making their inaugural Olympics appearance in the men’s football tournament and may call upon Newcastle United duo Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse of the English Premier League.

The UAE will begin the tournament with a match against Uruguay at Old Trafford in Manchester on July 26, with their final group match against Senegal at the Ricoh Arena on August 1. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the quarter-finals.  It is the first time the UAE have qualified for the tournament, with the former head of Dubai’s Road Transport Authority, Mahdi Ali, taking the reins.

Mexico, South Korea, Gabon and Switzerland are in Group B, while Brazil, Belarus, New Zealand and Egypt are in Group C. Spain, Honduras, Japan and Morocco make up Group D. Argentina won the men’s event at the 2008 Beijing games.

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