The national soccer team, easily the most popular and most professional of sports teams in the UAE, literally the only sport most Emiratis care about … played tonight.

How did it turn out?

Well, the UAE lost 4-0, at home, to Uzbekistan.

Which is not what this current group of guys who, collectively, probably make up the best team in UAE history, are supposed to be about.

And afterward, in addition to saying his team was lousy, the coach, Mahdi Ali, tore into UAE soccer fans, and wondered where the heck they had been for this match and the one with Australia four days earlier.

How bad is it?

According to the UAE coach, he would like to play all his games outside the country. Since the team gets no in-person support in-country.

So, what did he say?

We staffed the match, of course. We love the national team. And our reporters even go to the games. So Amith Passela was there to get the whole of Mahdi Ali’s rant.

Here we go, and this is Mahdi Ali speaking English; no translations to worry about.

“It is shameful the national team doesn’t have any home support from the fans for the home games. When we arrive at the stadium, we find a few fans and that gives the feeling that we are in a strange country,” he said.

“There is no support from our own fans, so how will the players be motivated?

“The other day, the Australians had more support for them than us in the stadium.

“I wish not to play any games at home but outside the country. It is really disappointing.”

Well, he has a point.

We went to the UAE-Australia match, and sat among the Oz fans, and it certainly did appear that the Socceroos had more people in the 40,000-plus-capacity Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.

Not nearly as many Uzbeks in the country, so their support tonight was about two dozen people, who were pleased with how things turned out, of course.

And about two dozen Emiratis could be bothered to show up, too. When no admission is charged. That’s right. Free. At a stadium in the middle of Abu Dhabi island, a place surrounded by about 1 million people.

(Imagine the U.S. national team playing an international friendly maybe 15 minutes from where you live, and not charging admission. You would go, right? Mahdi Ali’s point.)

So, tonight we commissioned a piece by a contributor named Omar Al Raisi, an Emirati journalist/promoter/busy guy who asked the question: “Why are Emirati fans not showing up for games in their own country?”

And among the suggestions he put forward were …

1. It’s too hot. Lots of Emiratis were watching the match, they just did it from the comfort of their local coffeeshop or from their living room. (It was about 95 degrees, at the stadium, for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.)

2. Hey, don’t forget women are part of the problem. They never show up. Well, Omar knows that, of course, and a big part of that — beyond “going to football games is not for women or girls” — is that they do not feel safe at stadiums filled mostly with men, and many local stadiums do not have restroom facilities. Omar suggested … more security, more women’s restrooms.

3. And almost zero expats. Omar noted that the Football Association does little or nothing to encourage the 85 percent of the population that is NOT Emirati to come to games. For free. He suggested the FA could perhaps be a little more inclusive in their marketing — if they actually did any marketing.

Thus, we have a pretty good team plays in front of 40,000 empty seats (check the photo from the link to the story), and it seems inevitable they once in a while might play as if no one is watching.

And Mahdi Ali’s rant, our correspondent’s recommendations … will anything change?

Probably not.