UAE manager Paulo Bento has faith in young guns as they prepare for Asian Cup opener

UAE manager Paulo Bento is putting faith in his young players to help fire the side’s Asian Cup bid, insisting he does not feel any pressure heading into the Group C opener in Qatar on Sunday.

The UAE, semi-finalists in the past two tournaments, kick off their campaign against Hong Kong at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan.

Bento’s men then face Palestine and group favourites, and three-time winners, Iran. The two top sides are guaranteed to progress to the last 16, together with the four best third-placed teams.

Appointed in July and thus making his debut with UAE at a major tournament, Bento’s squad includes a number of relatively inexperienced players.

Chief among those is 19-year-old striker Sultan Adil, 21-year-old midfielder Mohammed Abbas and 22-year-old defensive pair Zayed Sultan and Bader Nasser. The quartet, all competing at a first Asian Cup, have 15 caps between them.

Speaking on Saturday at the pre-match press conference, Bento said of the youthful make-up of the group: “The thing that is important is that we bring opportunities to the young players; it’s important to give them some experience.

“Maybe it’s not the best moment because it’s in a difficult and big competition. I will say it is not the best context. But we have some good players, young players, talented players. They are showing the right desire and the right wish to play and help the team.

“As I said in my first press conference [as UAE manager], it doesn’t matter to me how young or how old they are, the most important for us is the quality, the attitude.