UAE coach Alberto Zaccheroni has declared “all players” still have a chance to feature in January 2019’s Asian Cup.

Zaccheroni, 64, saw a squad weakened by injuries, plus the enforced exiles of stars Omar Abdulrahman and Ali Mabkhout for disciplinary reasons, go down to a pair of narrow losses at the 2018 King’s Cup in Thailand. The matches against Slovakia and Gabon existed as proving grounds for the Whites, as they build up to next year’s tournament on home soil.

“It was a great opportunity to enhance the potential and experience of the team after attending this year’s King’s Cup 2018 tournament in Thailand,” said the ex-AC Milan, Juventus and Japan boss.

“Many players have developed and showed good form during the past two matches.

“As of now, all players still have a chance to be in the final team.”

Among those to grasp opportunities to impress were emerging Al Ain attacking midfielder Rayan Yaslam and youthful Al Wahda forward Mohamed Al Akbari.

The UAE are set to undertake a number of friendlies and training camps before 2019’s event. They finished third in the previous edition in Australia four years ago.