The fierce look in his eyes at the players was still there. And there was a lot of faith in him. United Arab Emirates (UAE) coach Paulo Bento had been preparing for the Asian Cup.
It's 10 p.m. local time in Doha, Qatar. We're at the Al Egla training center. The UAE national team was training. I wanted to see Bento. The training ground was familiar. A year earlier, in December 2022. It was the training ground of the South Korean national team at the World Cup in Qatar. Bento was the coach of South Korea at the time.
I didn't get to see him for a long time. The local Qatari police guarding the training ground made a mistake and prevented him from entering. The Asian Cup officials themselves came and confronted them and barely managed to get in. The 15-minute training session was supposed to be open to the public, but it was already long overdue. We had about five minutes left. Training was already in full swing.
I watched Coach Bento. His arms were crossed and he was looking at the players intently. He seemed to be deep in thought. 카지노사이트777
He exchanged a few words with the UAE press. The topic was faith, and he said, "Coach Ventura is trustworthy. We went 6-1 since he took over. We lost one at the end, but that's okay. He's moving UAE soccer forward."
He also cracked a bone joke. A journalist asked him, "Are you here to watch the UAE or to watch Bento?" He said, "Actually, I'm here to watch Bento." The journalist then said, "Bento led South Korea to the World Cup and did well. He's a good coach."
I changed the subject and told him that quite a few Koreans miss Bento. The UAE journalist was surprised and wondered why anyone would miss him when they had Jürgen Klinsmann. I mentioned the work-from-home controversy. The UAE journalists were surprised and said, "We didn't know that was happening."
It was a bit bittersweet. Ventura stayed in the country with his family throughout his time in charge of South Korea. So did his staff.
The UAE is in Group C at the Asian Cup with Iran, Hong Kong, and Palestine.