At half-time on Saturday night, the air was thick with disappointment. The same UAE fans who had rocked central Doha late into the previous night sat stunned and silent in the stands of Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
The World Cup dream which had felt so tangible the previous evening, maybe even a foregone conclusion, seemed to be vanishing before their eyes.
They were 1-0 down against Oman in a game in which they needed to avoid defeat to keep alive their chances of making it straight to next year’s finals. Really, it could have been even worse.
Collectively, the national team had appeared entirely spooked by what was upon them. Kouame Autonne had diverted one into his own net. Lucas Pimenta had lost his customary assuredness.
Abdullah Ramadan seemed as though he needed to install Google Maps to have a chance of locating his teammates. Even Khalid Essa, who has seen it all before in 14 years in goal for the national team, was making uncharacteristic errors.
To add injury to insult, Yahya Al Ghassani, the one shining light amid the gloom of the 45-minute horror show, had left the field in tears, with his thigh heavily strapped.
Already one substitution down, three players lined up ready to enter the field of play ahead of the second half.
Just before they were waved on, the seniormost, Caio Canedo, grabbed the other two – Yahia Nader and Harib Abdallah – and pulled them in tightly.
“I told them that we only had 45 minutes to our dream,” Canedo, the 35-year-old Al Wahda striker, said.
“We knew we couldn’t lose. If we lost, Oman would reach four points, and we were out. Guys, this moment is everything we dreamed since we were a kid: a chance to at least fight to have the opportunity to go to the World Cup.
“Every kid who wants to be a football player, their main goal is to go to the World Cup. It is the highest point of the mountain.
“I said, ‘Guys, we have 45 minutes. In those 45 minutes, we can only draw or win, we cannot lose. We need to give our lives here. If we have to die here tonight, it is going to happen.’
“We needed to get these points – one point or three points – and, Alhamdulillah, we got the three points. We had 45 minutes to change this chapter, and continue making history.”
With the three-man half-time switch, the UAE went from calamitous to courageous. Both the deep lying midfielders, Ramadan and Majed Hassan, were withdrawn. Even Fabio De Lima, the creative maestro of the national team, was sacrificed.
On came Nader to play alongside Nicolas Gimenez in a central midfield two. Canedo and Abdullah joined the attack in a formation which was basically a gung-ho 4-2-4. And Cosmin Olaroiu’s tactical masterstroke worked.
The UAE were denied a penalty in the 69th minute after a VAR review, but still they powered on. Their endeavour was rewarded seven minutes later when Marcus Meloni headed in the equaliser, and his Sharjah teammate Caio Lucas scored the winner with seven minutes of the 90 remaining.
Canedo played for Brazilian giants like Botafogo and Internacional before moving to Dubai club Al Wasl in 2014, and he said he drew on all his experience to help bring about the turnaround against Oman.
“I am 35 years old; I have a little bit of experience,” Canedo said. “I used to play in the first division in Brazil where there is always a packed stadium with a lot of fans.
“I just told the guys, ‘Listen, stay calm, let’s play our football. We have a lot of quality.’ Oman had played before, and this was our first game [in the play-off] so the guys were a little bit nervous.
“I think the attitude and the spirit [after half-time] was a little bit different. The style of the game was also in our favour – long balls, fighting for second balls, crosses – and this made it comfortable for the style of the players who came inside.
“Maybe Qatar will be a totally different game, but when you have a good group, players with different characteristics, you can change the pieces. In UAE, we have that.”
The national team face Qatar in the last game of the play-off on Tuesday at the same venue. If they avoid defeat, they will qualify directly for the World Cup.
“We need to celebrate [the win against Oman] but it is not over,” said midfielder Gimenez, who was making his competitive debut for the UAE. “We have one more game, and we want to give everything for the country.”
The Baghdad Clock
Shahad Al Rawi, Oneworld
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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.”
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
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