It was not a gasp of shock – although there was plenty of that – but more \u2018I can\u2019t believe he did that!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Keisuke Honda, the posterboy of Asian football, had inextricably put his opening penalty over the bar, up stepped his supposed heir apparent, Omar Abdulrahman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Emirati wunderkid, although he was no longer a kid at 23, had set the tournament alight with a series of performances that had lived up to his pre-tournament hype. This was a man ready to fulfill his limitless potential. This was his moment, and boy did he own it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he stood over the ball from 12 yards, all the pressure on his shoulders, he embarrassed experienced Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima with an audacious Panenka that left onlookers speechless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Honda had skied his penalty, it truly felt like a moment that the batton of Asia\u2019s biggest star had been handed from the bleached blonde Japanese to the afro-haired Emirati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward seven years, however, and far from being the entry point to the story of the trailblazing career of the man they call \u2018Amoory\u2019, that moment and that tournament is sadly remembered as the peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he was crowned as Asia\u2019s best player 18 months later at a glitzy awards ceremony at Abu Dhabi\u2019s opulent Emirates Palace, his reputation was never more heightened than it was during that history making month in the Australian summer of 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the Emirates \u2018Golden Generation\u2019 faltered on the path to Russia 2018, when they were instead meant to challenge the elite of Asian national team football, Abdulrahman\u2019s star began to fade, especially as transfer window after transfer window came and went without the long-rumoured move to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A string of serious knee injuries that kept him sidelined for much of the past few years kept the one-time golden boy out of the spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n