An appealing aspect of the UAE is how compact it is. Both in terms of area and population.

The country is the 116th biggest in the world, in size, just behind Austria; if it were a U.S. state it would rank 40th, behind Maine). And the population is maybe 9 million, putting it 91st in the world. But if we count only citizens, the population is about 1 million, which would drop it to 160th, behind Swaziland. As a U.S. state, a citizens-only UAE would rank 45th, behind Montana.

(Another comparison: San Bernardino County is two-thirds the size of the UAE, and has twice as many citizens.)

Because UAE numbers are not large, a person, a journalist can have at least a semi-informed opinion about any topic in the public domain.

Like, for instance, the national soccer team.

It is not bragging for a person who is paying attention to say he/she is one of the world’s leading English-language authorities on soccer in the UAE. Because the pool of English-speakers who are paying attention is so small.

Which is a lengthy introduction to the player-by-player capsules that appeared in The National today ahead of the UAE’s first match in the Asian Cup — the biggest competition the country plays in with any regularity. (One World Cup appearance in 43 years as a country does not make it a regular.)

It is a bit strange, even three months into Year 6 here, to sit down and be able to do a fat paragraph on 23 guys I had never seen nor heard of, as of mid-2009.

But that is the case. The newspaper closely follows the national team, of course, and we also follow the domestic league, and everyone on the national team plays in the domestic league.

I am by no means a leading soccer authority in this country; the sport is not deep in my bones, like football or baseball are.

But most of the English speakers here pay scant attention to UAE football, having arrived with their own set of teams they follow. Usually the English Premier League.

Also, I have had face time with most of the team, going back to 2012, when I covered the national team. I spent 10 days in the same hotel, in Austria, before the London Olympics, where I covered their three matches.

Still, it is a bit of an out-of-body feeling to look at 20 photos — with no captions — the Football Association emails us every day for the past week, and be able to instantly identify everyone on the team. “Omar, Omar’s brother Mohammed; Amer, Majed Naser, Majed Hassan, Abdulaziz Haikal, Abdulaziz Sanquor …”

The team has two new guys on it, and (if you have been paying attention) you’re already 90 percent of the way to ID’ing those two because they are not the 21 you know. Thus, guys I wouldn’t have recognized 10 days ago, midfielder Hassan Ibrahim and No. 3 goalkeeper Mohammed Yousef … well, I’ve figured them out by now.

Well, of course I should know them. I have been watching soccer here for five-plus seasons.

But, still, it is odd to step back and think about it a bit more. “Six years ago I barely knew this country existed”

And today, I can recognize at a glance every guy on the national team — and spout an opinion on all of them.

They play Qatar on Sunday. Key Group C match. If we figure the UAE will lose to Iran, and it generally does, it needs to beat Qatar to get to the quarterfinals.