• England v Scotland, Friday, 11.45pm, Abu Dhabi Sports HD
It is a rivalry with almost a century-and-a-half of history behind it.
England and Scotland’s first meeting took place in London in 1870, and Friday’s the same city will play host to the 113th Fifa-recognised clash between the two neighbours.
This fixture used to be one of the highlights of the countries’ footballing calendars, but this week’s edition has been treated more like an afterthought by many fans on both sides of the border.
That is in part a reflection of the current state of international football, which has become subordinate to the club game in several ways.
The predictable nature of Uefa’s World Cup qualification process, at least as far as England and other large European nations are concerned, does not help matters either.
Nevertheless, it is impossible to ignore the intelligible argument that these two proud footballing countries have never concurrently been at such low ebbs.
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England’s inability to reach the last four of a major tournament during the so-called “Golden Generation” years between 2002 and 2010, when stars such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Ashley Cole, David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand all donned the white shirt, was rightly seen as a significant failure.
The nadir came this summer when Roy Hodgson’s side were deservedly dumped out of the European Championship by Iceland, a nation of fewer than 325,000 whose manager is a part-time dentist.
Scotland did not even make it to the tournament in France, finishing fourth in a qualifying group containing Germany, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Georgia and Gibraltar.
That represented a difficult draw, but the fact that they did not make it to a continental competition that featured more participants than ever says much about the state of the Scottish game.
Their last tournament appearance came in 1998. That means Scotland’s summers will have gone unoccupied for two decades by the time the 2018 World Cup rolls around – their longest such run since becoming a permanent Fifa member in 1946.
The Scots’ chances of advancing to Russia in two years’ time appear slim, with a return of four points from matches against Malta, Lithuania and Slovakia widely seen as the bare minimum of what is acceptable.
Although England’s tally of seven points means they are looking down on the rest of Group H from the summit after three encounters, the mood around their national team is no brighter.
The dearth of managerial candidates means interim manager Gareth Southgate is the overwhelming favourite to be named as Sam Allardyce’s permanent successor in the coming weeks, despite having only taken charge of one club side since hanging up his boots in 2006.
The 25-man squad selected for Friday’s’s game does not include a single world-class player, while England demonstrated at the Euros that they are lacking in the tactical and mental departments, too.
The latter is now his country’s manager, although that could change if the Scots are heavily beaten at Wembley.
Their hopes of an upset lie with the likes of Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass, West Bromwich Albion’s Darren Fletcher and RB Leipzig’s teenage winger Oli Burke, who at least offers a glimmer of hope for the future.
However, in the here and now, there is little for either England or Scotland to get excited about.
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
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PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Liverpool v Manchester United - 3.30pm
Burnley v West Ham United - 6pm
Crystal Palace v Chelsea - 6pm
Manchester City v Stoke City - 6pm
Swansea City v Huddersfield Town - 6pm
Tottenham Hotspur v Bournemouth - 6pm
Watford v Arsenal - 8.30pm
Sunday
Brighton and Hove Albion v Everton - 4.30pm
Southampton v Newcastle United - 7pm
Monday
Leicester City v West Bromwich Albion - 11pm
England squad
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Coady, Marc Guehi, Reece James, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Ben White
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Mason Mount, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, James Ward-Prowse
Forwards: Tammy Abraham, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Raheem Sterling
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