Carlos Queiroz, the manager of Egypt, has warned the president of Cameroon’s Football Federation to watch his words ahead of Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final meeting of the continent’s two most successful football countries.
As the president of Fecafoot, the governing body of the sport in Cameroon, is one of Africa’s greatest-ever players, Samuel Eto’o, the criticism was never likely to pass unnoticed.
Images of Eto’o — who won two Afcons with Cameroon and almost every club trophy available during a long career that peaked at Barcelona — cajoling Cameroon’s players after their quarter-final victory against Gambia have been widely broadcast.
In them, Eto’o, elected Fecafoot president last year, rouses the squad with references to the “war” they should expect against Egypt.
Queiroz said Eto’o’s language had been badly judged. “To make a declaration of ‘war’ is a very unfortunate comment,” said the vastly experienced coach. “It’s a bad approach and a very bad message to the people. I think he forgot that Cameroonian people died in the stadium a couple of days ago.”
Eight lives were lost during overcrowding around an entrance to the Olembe stadium in Yaounde ahead of Cameroon’s last-16 match against Comoros.
“Football is not about war, it’s about celebration, it’s about joy,” added Queiroz. “To challenge the Cameroon team to come and have a war? A comment like this deserves a red card.”
Safe to assume that the Cameroon football authorities will not be immediately reprimanding Eto’o, and that Caf, the African governing body, have graver issues to study, above all the continuing investigations into the Olembe Stadium tragedy that will forever define the tournament.
In Yaounde on Thursday, Queiroz will anticipate a hostile audience, perhaps the more so having upped the ante with his pre-match remarks about Eto’o. But he has cut a confrontational figure for the past three weeks.
On Egypt’s first match day, which ended in defeat to Nigeria, he was coaxed away from an argument with somebody in the stands after the final whistle, and neither of the coaching staffs of Egypt nor Morocco remained calmly positioned within their technical areas during the tetchy quarter-final, won 2-1 by Egypt after extra-time.
Queiroz was later given a warning by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and his assistant Roger de Sa has been banned from the touchline for the remainder of the Afcon.
But Queiroz knows as well as any coach that high-stakes knockout games in a major international tournament are seldom decided without friction. At 68, he is in charge of his sixth different national team — one of them UAE, for a brief spell — and at the latest in an expansive record of major events.
Four years ago, Queiroz was guiding Iran into a semi-final at the Asian Cup in Al Ain, a chastening 3-0 loss to Japan. By then he had led Iran to successive World Cups, and a last-eight exit, on penalties, at the previous Asian Cup.
He took Portugal to the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup; he took Colombia to the quarter-final, and a defeat on penalties, at the 2019 Copa America.
To scroll back 20 years through the global odyssey of a manager who has been in charge of Real Madrid, and was twice appointed deputy to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, would be to find him in a situation much like today’s.
Back in 2002, he was manager of South Africa, confronting Mali, the hosts, in an Afcon quarter-final. The South Africans were, on paper, the favourites. Mali, with home support, won 2-0.
On paper, there’s not too much between Cameroon and Egypt, sixth and seventh best in Africa according to the latest Fifa ranking. They are first and second in the Cup of Nations roll of honour, with seven titles for Egypt and five, the most recent in 2017, for Cameroon.
On the one side, there are the tournament’s in-form strikers, Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko Ekambi, 11 goals between them. On the other, the season’s in-form forward, Mohamed Salah, who has contributed two crucial goals during Egypt’s sometimes stuttering campaign at Afcon to his 23 for Liverpool since August.
The burden on Salah is always great. Injuries load still more responsibility on him to lead. Queiroz has fitness concerns over both his preferred goalkeepers, Mohamed El Shenawy having been withdrawn during the last-16 tie against Ivory Coast, and the second-choice Mohamed Abougabal 'Gabaski' having limped off the pitch late in the Morocco game. A torn muscle has ruled out Egypt’s most experienced defender Ahmed Hegazy.
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
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.”
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
MATCH INFO
English Premiership semi-finals
Saracens 57
Wasps 33
Exeter Chiefs 36
Newcastle Falcons 5
In%20the%20Land%20of%20Saints%20and%20Sinners
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20Lorenz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Liam%20Neeson%2C%20Kerry%20Condon%2C%20Jack%20Gleeson%2C%20Ciaran%20Hinds%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
