Paulo Bento demands UAE improvement ahead of next 2026 World Cup qualifying phase

Paulo Bento has called on his UAE squad to improve considerably for the step up in competition in the next round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup, after they concluded an unbeaten second phase campaign on Tuesday night.

The national team, who secured progression to Round 3 with two matches to spare, failed to make it six wins from six in Group H when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Bahrain in Dubai.

Mahdi Abduljabbar opened the scoring for the visitors at Zabeel Stadium on four minutes, with Sultan Adil equalising for the hosts six minutes later.

The UAE were already guaranteed to advance as group winners, while Bahrain went into the match with second place confirmed.

The draw for the third round takes place in Kuala Lumpur on June 27, where the UAE could be pitted against the likes of Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia or Saudi Arabia.

Asked by The National post-match for his evaluation of the progress made since his appointment last July, Bento said: “We improved in certain aspects, of course, since the beginning. But what I feel in this moment, and I cannot hide that because it’s always better we let the people know how the things are in this moment.

“Because I understand the expectations, but we should take in consideration many, many aspects and the context, and the context that we’re going to find in the future.

“Which kind of teams we are going to find; which type of players we are going to face; what their players are used to, and what are players are used to; where they are competing for a long time, and in which context their players are competing.

“So, all of these things we should take into consideration in order to prepare the best strategy and best decisions to compete as much as we can and as well