Giovanni Trapattoni admitted the Republic of Ireland did not deserve to get anything out of the Euro 2012 qualifier against Russia despite their stirring comeback.
Goals from Alexander Kerzhakov, Alan Dzagoev and Roman Shirokov put the visitors three up inside an hour at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium but a penalty from Robbie Keane started the fightback in the 72nd minute and, when Shane Long made it 3-2, the crowd sensed a shock point was possible.
However, although the final 12 minutes brought plenty of home pressure, they could not find an equaliser, meaning Slovakia, Russia and the Republic are all level on six points at the top of Group B.
Ireland’s coach Trapattoni admitted he had been caught out by Russia’s formation, with Kerzhakov and Dzagoev playing up front, but he took comfort from his side’s response in the final stages.
The Italian said: “Over 90 minutes, Russia deserved to win. In my mind I had an idea how Russia would play away from home, that maybe they would play with one striker and more in midfield.
“If we could have scored early on maybe it could have changed the game. The deflection off Richard Dunne for the third goal was unlucky; 2-0 is different than 3-0, but I have to praise the team as well for how they played in the second half.
“Two goals are important for our morale but also for the qualification.”
Players such as the captain Keane, midfielder Glenn Whelan and goalkeeper Shay Given have struggled for game time in the Premier League this season, and Trapattoni felt that contributed to the ease with which Russia created chances.
“Three or four players have not played that much and in the first half it was clear,” he continued. “I didn’t think we would concede three goals but we showed character because we could have conceded more. I said in the dressing room at half time: ‘Show your pride.’”
Meanwhile Montenegro maintained their unexpectedly excellent start when they beat Switzerland 1-0 to preserve their 100 per cent record in Group G in a busy night of Euro 2012 qualifying on Friday.
Montenegro's Mirko Vucinic scored what proved to be the winner after 68 minutes against Switzerland when he chipped the ball home from a narrow angle, and then celebrated in bizarre style by taking his shorts off and putting them on his head, earning a yellow card.
Montenegro, who have a population numbering well under a million, will face their toughest test so far when they meet similarly unbeaten England at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday.
Norway, like Montenegro another surprisingly successful package, maintained their place at the head of Group H, taking their tally to nine points with a 2-1 win in Cyprus with goals from John Arne Riise and John Carew.
Group leaders Germany and Holland also made it three wins out of three but there were shock defeats for Slovakia, who lost 3-1 to Armenia in Group B, and Serbia, who were beaten 3-1 at home by Estonia in Group C.
There was no surprise that Germany also made it three out of three with a 3-0 win over Turkey in Berlin where Miroslav Klose scored twice and Mesut Ozil netted the other to keep the Germans top of Group A with maximum points.
Klose's goals took his tally to 57 for Germany making him their second highest scorer behind Gerd Muller who holds the all-time record of 68. Ozil's goal came against the country where his parents were born.
Holland also won their third straight game in Group E with a 1-0 win in Moldova where Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored the only goal in the 37th minute.
Former World champions Italy dropped their first points when they were held to a goallless draw by Northern Ireland in their Group C match in Belfast. Hungary were the highest scorers with most of Friday's 21 matches completed, crushing minnows San Marino 8-0 in Budapest in their Group E game.
The night began with Armenia scoring a surprise 3-1 win over Slovakia 3-1, while Belgium got their first points after three matches with debutant Marvin Ogunjimi netting both in a 2-0 win in Kazakhstan.
One of the biggest upsets came in Belgrade where Estonia won a rare, but well deserved away 3-1 victory against a sluggish Serbia in Group C with superb second half goals from Tarmo Kink and Konstantin Vassiljev to give new coach Vladimir Petrovic a miserable start in his new job.
* Agencies
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Barbie
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US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
THE BIO:
Sabri Razouk, 74
Athlete and fitness trainer
Married, father of six
Favourite exercise: Bench press
Must-eat weekly meal: Steak with beans, carrots, broccoli, crust and corn
Power drink: A glass of yoghurt
Role model: Any good man
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding