Al Nasr 4 (Al Yassi 15', Saleh 41', 77', Khamis 89')
Tractor Sazi 1 (Augusto 59')
Man of the match Salem Saleh (Al Nasr)
DUBAI // A first foray into the Asian Champions League knockout stages yielded a resounding first victory for Al Nasr, a historic night at Al Maktoum Stadium that hints at more to come.
The Dubai club, never beyond the groups in two previous attempts, emerged from their last-16 first-leg encounter against Iran’s Tractor Sazi Tuesday evening with a sizeable lead, three goals to the good and with one foot in the quarter-finals.
A goal from Ahmed Al Yassi, two from substitute Salem Saleh and a late Mahmoud Khamis rocket sealed it, securing Nasr a real advantage to take to Tabriz next week.
In an instant, those knockout novices appeared seasoned continental campaigners. Next week’s trip to Tabriz will still be tricky – Al Jazira lost 4-0 there earlier this year – but an inaugural run at the latter rounds looks set to continue.
• John McAuley: Al Nasr's Ivan Jovanovic says 'Every goal counts' against Tractor Sazi in Asian Champions League
“We won today 4-1, but we have to play one more game in Tabriz and it’ll be very difficult match,” said Ivan Jovanovic, the Nasr manager.
“And in order to qualify we need to play a better game than we did today. But in the end I want to say a big congratulations and bravo to my players, they gave everything and they write in golden letters a big new history for this club.”
Nasr were well on their way to forging a new chapter by half time, going 2-0 up thanks to Al Yassi’s fine finish following good work from Khamis on 15 minutes, one full-back eventually finding the other. By that stage, Nasr had already lost Nilmar to an ankle injury.
Yet his replacement stepped up twice, first when Saleh nodded home a Khamis corner just before the break, and then 13 minutes from time when he tapped Luis Jimenez’s rebounded shot into the Tractor net.
In between, the visitors had halved the deficit through Augusto’s acrobatic volley. Nasr responded like they had been here before, though, pushing forward to eventually plough through Tractor.
After Saleh put daylight between the teams, Khamis thundered an unstoppable shot high into the opposition goal.
Nasr’s fans celebrated wildly, a joyous victory to justify a brilliant night’s work. Tractor’s coach Amir Ghalenoei still saw it differently somehow, complaining about the referee, Nasr’s time-wasting and what he perceived to be the home side’s consistent feigning of injury.
“I trust in my team and their strengths and I’m sure we’re going to compensate in Tabriz with the help of our fans,” he said.
“Of course, only if they’re coming to play football, not in mistaking the pitch every time for a hospital.
“I believe the Arab countries pay so much play for football, if they could train more they should have improved their football more. Given all these facts, I say congratulations to the Nasr coach. I believe he would not like the type of football they play, because he comes from modern football countries. But it is in their blood; they do like this, all the Arab countries.”
It sounded like sour grapes, for his side have much work to do. For Nasr, though, an unlikely Asian assault promises even more.
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The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Norway 1 Spain 1
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Director: Tom Tykwer
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
