The naturalization craze is also heating up in the Middle East. Paulo Bento, the head coach of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) national football team, has included 8 naturalized Brazilian players in his 27-man roster for the international match.

The global media outlet Footboom reported on the 7th (Korea time) that "the UAE national team has summoned 8 players from Brazil to qualify for the World Cup. They are drawing attention in Asian football for their unique player selections."

The UAE Football Association announced the 27-man roster ahead of the international matches in March. Currently, the UAE urgently needs victories to secure a direct spot in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup. With 10 points, the UAE is in 3rd place in Group A, behind Iran (16 points) and Uzbekistan (13 points).

The top two teams in each group will secure their spots in the World Cup finals, while the 3rd and 4th place teams must go through the third round of Asian qualifiers. The UAE needs to add points in this doubleheader to rise to 2nd place. The UAE will play an away game in Tehran against Iran on the 21st and face North Korea in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the 25th.

Dreaming of their first World Cup finals in 36 years, the UAE has added 8 naturalized Brazilian players to their national team. Lucas Pimenta, Marcos Meloni, Fabio de Lima, Jonatas Santos, Luan Pereira, Bruno Oliveira, Caio Lucas, and Caio Canedo will don the UAE uniform.

The UAE is making a concerted effort on a national level to gather Brazilian players. Footboom stated, "The UAE league is the second-largest reservoir of Brazilian talent in the world, following the Brazilian domestic league. Currently, 42 Brazilian players are playing in 14 teams," adding that "this influx is due to attractive salaries offered by UAE clubs. Additionally, there is a trend of players unable to play for the Brazilian national team opting for naturalization."

Among the eight Brazilians, Santos and Lucas have joined the UAE national team for the first time. Santos expressed on social media, "It’s truly a great blessing! I arrived in this country five years ago. Now is the time to give back everything I have received as a player and as an individual. I will devote 110% to achieve the great goals and dreams of the UAE."

He also added, "This is a very special moment. Playing for the national team is every player’s dream. I’m so happy with what I’ve accomplished this season. This motivates me even more to keep working hard. I hope I can represent my country well in the national team uniform."

Lucas also said, "I’m so happy. This is something I had been looking forward to and dreaming of. Since starting the naturalization process, I hoped for this opportunity to represent the UAE. Now that the opportunity has come, I’m happy here. It’s an honor to give back even a little of the love I’ve received."

Bento, who needs to effectively integrate the naturalized players and established UAE players to achieve results, has a significant task ahead of him. If he leads the UAE to the World Cup finals, it’s highly likely he will join Korea, where he managed from 2018 until 2022, on the finals stage. Korea, currently leading Group B with 14 points, can secure a spot in the World Cup finals early if they win both domestic matches against Oman and Jordan.

Bento led the Korean national team from 2018 until December 2022. He also achieved the milestone of advancing Korea to the knockout stage in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. However, he stepped down from the Korean head coach position after a disagreement during contract renegotiations with the Korea Football Association.

After taking a break, Bento returned to coaching by signing a three-year contract with the UAE national team in July 2023. Unfortunately, his initial goal of returning to Europe did not materialize. There were rumors that the Polish national team was interested in Bento, but it did not lead to an actual agreement.

Now under Bento's leadership, the UAE is dreaming of its first finals appearance since the 1990 Italy World Cup. The UAE has recorded 13 wins, 5 draws, and 6 losses under Bento’s regime. With the addition of many naturalized Brazilian players, the team's strength is significantly increasing.

[Photo] UAE Football Association social media.

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