We are still playing soccer, here in the UAE, and the conditions get steadily more unbearable as we descend into the hell of a Gulf summer.

The final competition in domestic soccer this season is the President’s Cup, which is not as big a deal as winning the league but ranks as the second-best thing to win here — and concludes with a win-or-lose final that is nearly guaranteed to be more fascinating than the league, which typically ends on a whimper.

This year, the final 16 of the President’s Cup was played after the conclusion of the league, starting on May 14, winding up on June 3.

That meant the finalists would play four matches in 21 days, in increasing heat. But it turned out worse than that.

Both Al Nasr and Al Ahli, the finalists this year, also had other tournament assignments in that same period. Ahli played two matches in the Asian Champions League, and Nasr had two in the Gulf Club Cups.

Make that six matches in 21 days. In the hottest weather since September.

Anticipating that the final will be brutally hot, one of our correspondents  spoke to a veteran Al Ahli defender, an Emirati who knows all about going 90 minutes — if not 120 — in late May or early June.

Asked about playing in the final on June 3 — when the projected high will be 109 Fahrenheit — Eisa Santo said: At this time of year it’s very, very hard to play.

“It’s June, man; it’s hot as hell.”

Not that will stop them.

The game kicks off at 6:20 p.m., which is about 35 minutes before the sun goes down. It will be around 100 at kickoff, and then it will get dark, but that is when the humidity rockets.

How will the Football Association deal with this?

How do a water break during each of the halves sound? Everything OK?

Not quite.

Our Emirati source said the heat is unpredictable. Well, the heat is predictable but how a body will react is not.

Even when he prepares as he always does, he will not know until the game is on whether he will feel exhausted inside 30 minutes, or whether he will be able to push through till the end.

At the end, both sides want to win the President’s Cup — which is sure to be played with several of the country’s leading royals in the stands.

Said Eisa Santo: “The temperature is one thing, but every player wants to play in these big games.”