The United Arab Emirates didn’t come within a country mile of qualifying for Brazil 2014. For practical purposes, the UAE’s qualifying run in the Asian Football Confederation ended in late 2011, back when I was covering the team for The National.

A home loss to Kuwait and then a road loss to Lebanon, which is far better at basketbal than it is in soccer, doomed them from the start, back in September of 2011. This was in the group stage before the group stage that produced the four Asia qualifiers — Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia.

But that doesn’t mean the UAE lacks a direct connection to what is going on in Brazil.

No fewer than three players in Brazil play (or once played) in the UAE domestic league, which is not quite as rinky-dink as some in Europe may believe.

To wit:

—Asamoah Gyan, Ghana. The most prominent UAE player in the World Cup. Ghana’s captain, he scored two goals in Brazil, ahead of Ghana’s elimination from the Group of Death (G edition). Gyan has played at Al Ain for three full seasons, first on loan from Sutherland, and then as an Al Ain employee. (If you watched Ghana play the U.S., Gyan was the guy with his number, 3, cut into his hair.) He set an Arabian Gulf League (UAE) record, with 31 goals, in the 2012-13 season and is expected back for his fourth season here.

—Felipe Caicedo, Ecuador. Caicedo played for the Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira in the second half of the 2013-14 season, and though he looked athletic enough and had the dreadlocks that once upon a time said “I’m pretty good” … he wasn’t sharp here, and probably will not be coming back, but … he started two of Ecuador’s matches, as a forward, and came on as a late sub in the draw with France.

—Jorge Valdivia. His connection to the UAE goes back a bit, to the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, when he played for Al Ain, and was captain in his second season. He was hugely popular with the 11-time champions, and he went directly from Al Ain to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he was so impressive that the Brazil club Palmeiras bought him back from Al Ain. He is with Chile, again, and started the first match (scoring a goal) and appearing as a substitute in the second and third matches. Up next: Chile v Brazil tomorrow.

S0, anyway, the UAE has some world-class players. Not saying every team has one, or that that even the best teams go 3-4 deep in Guys Who Could Play Anywhere … but the league can play to a high standard than one might normally thing, in a small country in the Gulf.

Four years hence, the UAE will hope to have a more direct presence at the World Cup — as one of Asia’s qualifiers for Russia 2018.