Moldovan test for Katanec

Ahmed Khalil and his teammates will be looking to put the lessons of the past week into practice when the UAE take on Moldova in a friendly in Salzburg, Austria, tonight. The UAE have been based in Austria since Saturday as they continue their preparations for the Gulf Cup in November and the Asian Cup in Germany. Srecko Katanec, the manager, will have an opportunity to put his tactics to the test against Moldova, before the more challenging clash against Algeria next Saturday.

Algeria themselves are preparing for next month's World Cup finals, which starts on June 11 in South Africa. However, Moldova finished at the bottom of their group in the European qualifiers, behind the likes of Luxembourg and Israel. They lost seven of their 10 matches and could manage only three draws. In their two games since, Moldova have lost to Kazakhstan and were held to a 1-1 draw by Azerbaijan.

Katanec has studied the tapes of the last match and has formulated his strategies, which Khalil is hoping to implement on the pitch. "This match is very important from a coaching and players' perspective," said Khalil, the striker. "We will be trying to apply all that we have learnt in training. The players are keen to give a good account and get a positive result in the game. "If we can do that, it will out us in the right frame of mind ahead of the game against Algeria."

The Gulf Cup will be held in Yemen from November 22 and it is the only trophy bearing the name of the UAE senior team. They won it at home in 2007. The Asian Cup starts in Doha on January 7 and UAE's best performance in the continental championship was been a runners-up finish in 1996. arizvi@thenational.ae