Mabkhout's 'really bad' training behind national team absence, says UAE boss Bento

Paulo Bento has not closed the door on Ali Mabkhout’s international career while he is UAE manager, although he said the striker’s “really bad” performance and attitude in training was behind his Asian Cup absence.

Mabkhout, the UAE’s all-time leading goalscorer, was a high-profile omission from the national team’s campaign in Qatar in January despite being named in the squad.

The 33-year-old was an unused substitute in the UAE’s opening two Group C matches against Hong Kong and Palestine – teenager Sultan Adil started and scored in both – and was omitted from the games against Iran and tournament debutants Tajikistan. The UAE exited the competition when they lost to the latter on penalties in the last 16.

Mabkhout, who has featured in all three of Al Jazira's Adnoc Pro League matches since, was not named in Bento’s squad for the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifying double-header against Yemen.

Speaking on Wednesday, on the eve of the home fixture in Abu Dhabi, the Portuguese was asked if Mabkhout would have the opportunity to play for him again.

“I don’t know... the future, I cannot predict,” Bento said. “For now, he’s not. It’s a fact that he didn’t play in the Asian Cup due to many reasons. One of them was that his performance and his attitude in the training sessions was really bad.

"So it’s normal that, when these kind of things happen, the coach makes the decision to not play players who have that kind of behaviour.

“And the other reason is that after the [final group] game against Iran, the game that he stayed out of the team, he got injured in the stands, which meant he couldn’t play or couldn’t train in the next days after.

"It’s important for us to come with the players that want to play with the national team,