One day I looked up … and seemingly every young guy in UAE soccer is rocking big hair.

Let’s link you to some of them.

Check out Amer Abdulrahman, the little midfielder who plays for Baniyas.  That’s him on the right. Is that hair or a small, furry creature sitting on his dome?

And here you can see Hamdan al Kamali, the defender from Al Wahda, in the middle of the photo. That’s Amer Abdulrahman and his head-ferret on the right.

This is Adel al Hosani, the goalkeeper from Al Wahda who, sadly, has straight hair — which doesn’t take over a room like that of some of his teammates.

The one guy who can hang with Amer Abdulrahman on the big hair front is Omar Abdulrahman (no relation), from Al Ain, whose hair is almost as big as he is. That’s him wearing No. 27, bottom row, second from left. Another guy who needs apologize to no one about his mane is Theyab Awana, No. 10, bottom row, second from right.

Yet another player with several pounds of hair is Abdullah Mousa, the Al Jazira outside back. I don’t see him on the photos posted by the UAE Football Association, but here he is during the league season. His hair is even longer, now.

Anyway, these guys are all on the same Under 23 team that is attempting to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics.

They play an away-and-home pair of games against North Korea, with the first game in Pyongyang, on Sunday. North Korea is no slouch, as a soccer nation, and this represents a significant hurdle for the UAE and their Hair Brigade.