BANIYAS // When he offered his spectacles to the referee, Josef Hickersberger, the Al Wahda coach, was sent off by Mohammed al Zarouni, the match referee, who apparently saw no need for corrected vision.
As it turned out, it was good for Hickersberger, the 62-year-old Austrian, that he retained his eyeware because he was encouraged by what he saw in the second half.
To be sure, the visiting champions were defeated by emerging Pro League power Baniyas 2-1 before 3,522 fans, and fell 11 points behind leaders Al Jazira, and nine back of Baniyas, in the Pro League table.
Still, Hickersberger felt heartened by the way his side finished the game.
"If we can play as we did in the second half, I still think we have a good chance of defending the league title," he said.
Baniyas had surged to a two goal lead in the first half.
"We had a poor first half, and I think it was one of the worst I had witnessed," Hickersberger said. "But [the players] showed a lot of character to come back strongly and score a goal. And if we can continue playing the way we did in the second half, I think we still have a good chance of defending our title."
Andre Senghor opened the scoring with a penalty to take his league-leading tally to 12 from 10 games and Fawzi Basheer, the Oman international, later added a second from a looping shot that was badly misjudged by Adel al Hosani, the Wahda goalkeeper.
Mohammed al Shehhi, who came on as a late substitute for Wahda, narrowed the lead seven minutes from time but Baniyas held on to see out the rest of the game and claim the three points which took their season tally to 24.
Before the game, Hickersberger bemoaned the state of his side after three tough matches in the Club World Cup in the span of eight days.
But he did not cite the Fifa tournament as a reason for the defeat last night. Instead, he blamed two defensive lapses that were thoroughly out of character for what had been the hardest team to score against in the league; Wahda had conceded only five goals in their first eight league matches.
Senghor scored from the spot in the 12th minute after Basheer Saeed, the Wahda defender, extended both hands above his head and touched a cross in the box.
Fawzi Basheer doubled the lead in the 38th minute. His free kick from 30 yards struck the Wahda wall and came right back to him. He then kicked a high, looping shot that came down just under the bar and just beyond the fists of al Hosani, with the Wahda keeper badly at fault.
"This game, we played for the three points," said Lutfi al Benzarti, the Baniyas coach. "Having taken a 2-0 lead, we defended well in the second half. We knew Wahda strengthened their attack, and this is a side that had scored six goals in the Club World Cup.
"It is indeed a big step forward for us after a win with Wahda, and we are going the right way. Yet we want to take one game at a time because it is still too early in the league."
Trailing 2-0, Hickersberger augmented his attack by substituting Yaqoub al Hosani with Saeed al Kathiri and later brought in al Shehhi.
Hickersberger pushed up Hugo, the Brazilian midfielder, as Ismail Matar's striking partner in the absence of the injured Brazilian striker Fernando Baiano.
Al Kathiri who was doubtful before the match with flu, made little impact.
apassela@thenational.ae
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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.”
Company%20profile
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Honeymoonish
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
NEW ARRIVALS
Benjamin Mendy (Monaco) - £51.75m (Dh247.94m)
Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur) - £45.9m
Bernardo Silva (Monaco) - £45m
Ederson Moraes (Benfica) - £36m
Danilo (Real Madrid) - £27m
Douglas Luiz (Vasco de Gama) - £10.8m
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Titan Sports Academy:
Programmes: Judo, wrestling, kick-boxing, muay thai, taekwondo and various summer camps
Location: Inside Abu Dhabi City Golf Club, Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Telephone: 971 50 220 0326
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
CREW
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
Key fixtures from January 5-7
Watford v Bristol City
Liverpool v Everton
Brighton v Crystal Palace
Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan
Coventry v Stoke City
Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Manchester United v Derby
Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom
Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon
Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City
Manchester City v Burnley
Shrewsbury v West Ham United
Wolves v Swansea City
Newcastle United v Luton Town
Fulham v Southampton
Norwich City v Chelsea
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
2019 Asian Cup final
Japan v Qatar
Friday, 6pm
Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
RESULT
Huddersfield Town 2 Manchester United 1
Huddersfield: Mooy (28'), Depoitre (33')
Manchester United: Rashford (78')
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town)
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
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more from Janine di Giovanni
Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Rally schedule:
Saturday: Super Special Spectator Stage – Yas Marina Circuit – start 3.30pm.
Sunday: Yas Marina Circuit Stage 1 (276.01km)
Monday: Nissan Stage 2 (287.92km)
Tuesday: Al Ain Water Stage 3 (281.38km)
Wednesday: ADNOC Stage 4 (244.49km)
Thursday: Abu Dhabi Aviation Stage 5 (218.57km) Finish: Yas Marina Circuit – 4.30pm.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
