Caio Canedo’s wait to join fellow naturalised new boys Fabio De Lima and Sebastian Tagliabue in the UAE set-up has been extended after confirmation he had become the Arabian Gulf League’s most-high-profile coronavirus sufferer.
Canedo, 29, was conspicuous in his absence when incoming boss Jorge Luis Pinto oversaw drills last month at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, despite being selected. He was then not named on Sunday in the 28-man UAE squad for their imminent Serbian training camp, from August 5-23.
The Al Ain forward posted on Instagram Stories he had been in isolation for the last “17 days” and was “feeling healthy”, but was awaiting a negative test before he could link-up with his team-mates.
He wrote: “Hello, guys! First of all, thank you so much for all the messages and all the love I’ve been receiving on social media all these days.
“I’ve been isolated 17 days already with Covid-19.
“Just want to let all my fans and friends know that I’m feeling great, feeling healthy, and ready to come back as soon as possible.
“However, I made some new tests and now I just have to wait for the negative results to show up in order for me to come back together with Al Ain and the national team. Thank you!”
Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani, Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club centre-back Mohammed Marzouq and Al Wasl midfielder Ali Salmeen also dropped out. The quartet were replaced by Al Dhafra custodian Khaled Al Senani, Al Jazira defender Fares Juma, Al Wahda winger Khalil Ibrahim and Sharjah playmaker Khaled Bawazir.
Pinto, who led Costa Rica to World Cup 2014’s quarter-finals, was unveiled by the Whites last month as their fifth boss in three years. Securing a berth at the 2022 edition is, overwhelmingly, his main focus.
International friendlies have been booked in versus Jordan on September 4 and Tajikistan on September 8. Then follows the defining final fixtures in the coronavirus-delayed second round of AFC qualifying.
The UAE sit fourth in Group G, five points off leaders Vietnam albeit with a game in hand. They face Malaysia at home on October 8, before travelling to battle Indonesia five days later.
Crunch clashes against Thailand and Vietnam, both at home, await on November 12 and 17. Only the group winners are guaranteed to progress to the third round, alongside the four best runners-up from the eight groups.
The UAE have only previously made the 1990 tournament.
UAE TRAINING SQUAD
Al Ain: Khalid Essa, Ismail Ahmed, Mohamed Ahmed, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Ahmed Barman; Al Dhafra: Khalid Al Senani; Al Jazira: Ali Khaseif, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Fares Juma, Salem Rashid, Abdullah Ramadan, Omar Abdulrahman, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout; Al Nasr: Tariq Ahmed, Sebastian Tagliabue; Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club: Abdulaziz Haikal, Walid Abbas, Yousef Jaber, Majed Hassan, Ahmed Khalil; Sharjah: Khalid Bawazir; Al Wahda: Mohamed Al Shamsi, Mohammed Al Menhali, Khamis Esmail, Khalil Ibrahim; Al Wasl: Fabio De Lima, Ali Saleh
