If Paulo Bento had any inkling dismissal was looming, he did a fine job of hiding it.
As the clock ticked towards 1am UAE time on Tuesday night, he was in the bowels of a sparsely populated Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, diligently – as ever – going about the peripheral parts of his job as national team coach.
He was completing the last of his media duties with an interview for Abu Dhabi TV, at the end of what had ostensibly been a good night for UAE football.
Sure, it had been a fractured performance. For the second time on his watch, they had struggled to break down a North Korea side who should have been easy beats.
Another 1-1 draw – as it had been when the two sides met in the reverse fixture in Al Ain, and as the scoreboard read when the 90 minutes were up – and it would have been understandable if Bento was eased out.
That would have left them six points adrift of Uzbekistan in the all-important tussle for second place in the group. Their chances of direct qualification for next year’s World Cup would have been all but extinguished.
But they had got the job done in the end, thanks to the dramatic, stoppage time intervention of their bandaged, last action hero, Sultan Adil.
Adil’s header, in the eighth minute of time added on, provided both relief and hope. A chance to look forward to the meeting with the Uzbeks in June when they can bring the heat of UAE summer, as well as that of a packed stadium in the Emirates.
That is exactly what Bento did in his post-match debrief. “We want to go to the World Cup,” he said. “We should spend the whole time, all of our energy, to fight for that possibility.”
He savoured the idea of a big match against the Uzbeks, played out in front of heaving stands. “This is what we would like to have: a full stadium with a very good atmosphere, supporting the players,” Bento added.
“Even today, I would like to give a special mention to the guys that were here. It was a different game, with an almost empty stadium, but it was important for the players to have their support. It helped them believe until the end.
“It was just a few people, and we hope to have a different atmosphere in June because I think that is a good way to show the country supports the team with acts and not just words.”
These were not the words of someone preparing to face the guillotine. He was looking ahead, as was his trusted right-hand man, Sergio Costa, and the rest of the backroom team.
Then, less than seven hours later, the UAE Football Association announced they had dispensed with the lot of them.
“The UAEFA has decided to dismiss the head coach of the national team along with his coaching staff,” they said on social media early on Wednesday morning.
Bento is a pragmatist. He was as a player, and he is as a coach. He was a battling, water-carrier midfielder who was good enough to play 35 times for the Portugal side of gilded stars like Luis Figo and Rui Costa.
His coaching style reflects what he was like as a player, favouring hard work and honesty. A lot of the time you have to squint to see the beauty in it, which is why he found himself offside with his public in the UAE.
The 55-year-old knows football is a results driven business. Those achieved on his watch – 14 wins, six draws and six losses in his 20 months in charge – did not make him indispensable.
Lately, the signs were that progress had stalled. After an epic night in Abu Dhabi in November, when they thrashed rivals Qatar 5-0, they regressed.
They failed to make it out of their group in the Gulf Cup, then lost 2-0 to Iran on their return to the qualifying campaign, with a turgid display which brought much opprobrium from the fan base.
Still, he might have hoped to at least be given the chance to try to finish what he had started, especially as the North Korea win – late as it was – meant automatic World Cup qualification remains possible.
The FA’s thinking, presumably, is there is someone out there who could give them a better shot at success in those two games, against Uzbekistan then Kyrgyzstan.
It is indicative of the climate in which he was working that Bento’s 20-month reign is nothing like a short stint by UAE standards.
If the FA acted every time there was fan dissent about a coach, they would be changing the reins once a year or more. Which is exactly the strike rate they are working at presently.
Bento was the ninth manager they have had in the eight years since Mahdi Ali resigned, after defeat to Australia in Sydney spelt the end of another bid to make it back to the World Cup.
Which begs the question: who next? The FA say they hope to act soon to fill the breach.
The next man in has a little over two months to ready the side for the make-or-break game against the Uzbeks. For them to stand a chance, surely they must be someone with a keen grasp of the domestic game.
If they were to look to recruit from within the league, there are plenty of well-credentialed candidates. Milos Milojevic is much admired at Al Wasl, even if they have dropped short of the standards they set last season when he coached them to a domestic double.
Cosmin Olaroiu continues to set high standards at Sharjah, while Paulo Sousa is blazing a trail with Shabab Al Ahli.
Mahdi Ali, whose five-year stint in charge ended in disappointment, even though history shows he did much good for UAE football, retains some support.
If Mahdi were to return, he would find a landscape entirely different to the one he left. His side was peopled by a core of talented young Emiratis which had come through on his watch at the coach of the UAE’s Olympic team who played at London 2012.
Now, the squad includes players born in England, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, as well as a raft of Brazilians.
Bento’s last squad had eight players of Brazilian origin in it. Six started against the Koreans, and the other two came on as subs. At the very least, Bento had one key attribute – namely, fluency in Portuguese.
The naturalisation of players is a complex issue which has brought with it challenges as well as obvious positives.
It meant Bento had more options and more firepower at his disposal than any coach in UAE history. That brought with it inflated expectations, as well as the issue of weaving new players into a coherent set up, while maintaining an ethos and heritage.
Some regard it all with suspicion. When the team perform badly, the project is deemed a failure. When they perform well, supporters are queuing up to pay for Fabio De Lima’s meal at the McDonald’s drive thru.
Times have changed, and so, now, has the coach. The only thing that seems certain is the new man will be afforded precious little of that to prove themselves.
