Richards praises UAE starlet

Manchester City’s Micah Richards has tipped UAE midfielder Omar Abdulrahman for a big future in the game.

Richards witnessed Abdulrahman first hand in Sunday’s 3-1 Great Britain victory at the 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday and the 20-year-old Al Ain midfielder made an impression.

He played a full game in the loss to the hosts, setting up Rashid Essa’s equaliser on the hour mark, before late goals from substitutes Scott Sinclair and Daniel Sturridge earned Team GB the points.

Speaking after the game, Richards, who also put in a full shift in the match at Wembley Stadium, raved about Abdulrahman’s performance.

“The number 15 (Abdulrahman) is a very good player who plays beautiful football,” Richards said.

“He’ll be one of those players we should keep an eye on in the future.”

The Manchester City defender also said he was impressed by the UAE team as a whole and felt their two defeats from two games (they lost 2-1 to Uruguay in their opening game) was not indicative of their good performances.

“We had watched videos of the UAE and we knew they were good,” Richards said.

“The UAE deserved to win their previous match against Uruguay and I don’t think either one of their matches has been fair to them because they played pretty well.”