The 53-year-old Frenchman guided the UAE to a maiden crown in January with a 1-0 victory over Oman courtesy of Ismail Matar's late strike.

Metsu led Senegal to their first ever appearance FIFA World Cup finals in 2002 and claimed a surprise victory over defending champions France in the opening game before landing the AFC Champions League title with Al Ain a year later.

And Dakhan believes a UAE side under Metsu's tutelage is in with a good chance of claiming AFC Asian Cup glory this summer.

"It goes without saying that Bruno Metsu is one of the best coaches in the world and has put together a team from what he has scouted in the UAE leagues," Dakhan said.

"He has put a team together which has good team chemistry and plays well together."

Matar scored five goals in as many games during the Gulf Cup triumph that included a stoppage time victory over Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals as he topped the scoring charts and scooped the player of the tournament award.

The 24-year-old Al Wahda frontman played just two games three years ago in China, where The Eagles finished bottom of their group with just one point, but is set to play a key role this July.

Despite Matar being the main focus, Dakhan believes a talented UAE squad will show their quality this month, starting with the opening Group B encounter against co-hosts Vietnam on Sunday.

"It goes without saying that Ismail Matar is a special talent and a gifted player," he added.

"However, the UAE national team is comprised of 23 players.

"All 23 players play their part in ensuring the team plays well on the pitch.

"We have new players coming into the team, young talent which you will be seeing in the Asian Cup tournament and you will be surprised."

Dakhan, who is also the head of the UAE delegation at the AFC Asian Cup, also admitted Metsu's side face a tough task to qualify from Group B after being drawn alongside defending champions Japan, 2006 Asian Games gold medalists Qatar and co-hosts Vietnam.

"The Asian Cup, being a regional tournament, is very important priority for the UAE national team and we always take that into consideration when we prepare our schedule to make sure we are ready for this tournament because it is important," he said.

"This group contains four key teams. Japan, who are the defending Asian Cup champions, one is ourselves, who are the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup champions, the Asian Games champions Qatar and also the hosts Vietnam.

"As they are the host nation they will have a lot of support behind them, so it will be a very tough group."

The UAE face Japan on July 13 before rounding off their group stage campaign against Qatar three days later.

A potential quarter-final meeting with Oman, Australia, Iraq or Thailand will then awaits if their group campaign proves to be successful.