The UAE players go through their training routine.
The UAE players go through their training routine.

World Cup adventure begins here



ABU DHABI // Tonight's friendly against Bahrain is Bruno Metsu's last chance to experiment with his UAE side before they get down to the serious business of trying to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Metsu's men take on another World Cup hopeful in a friendly at Al Jazira's Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, a week before starting the final stage of the qualification process for South Africa.

The Emirates are drawn alongside North Korea, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran in Group 2. The top two teams earn automatic qualification and the two third placed teams will battle in a playoff to join them in South Africa. The UAE face North Korea on Sept 6 and Iran four days later, with both games being played in the capital. "As it is, there is no easy way out. Any of the 10 teams can qualify for the finals," said Metsu.

"This is the ambition of all 10 countries when they go into the final round of the qualifiers. "We began our preparation with a month-long camp in Europe, which I believe has gone well, and now we want to put the players into a final test with the friendly against Bahrain. "They are a good team and they come with the same objective that we have. It's about having a good final look. The result is of little consequence, but a win will help keep morale high.

"The players want to play and put their skills to practise." Bahrain, under the Czech coach Milan Macala, are drawn in Group 1 alongside Australia, Japan, Qatar and Uzbekistan. And they have arrived with a similar aim of giving their side a final test before a showdown with Japan at home. Metsu seems to have faith in Mohammed al Shehhi to partner his more illustrious Al Wahda teammate Ismail Matar up front as he combined them with his experienced midfield of Abdulraheem Jumaa, Subaith Khater, Helal Saeed, Ahmed Dada and Haider Ali during Wednesday's training session.

Basheer Saeed will take charge of the defence, along with Ismail al Hammadi and Faris Awad as the experienced Rashid Abdulrahman may miss out because of a niggle. Saeed is playing with a heavily strapped left palm after fracturing it in last week's friendly with Algeria in France. Haider Ali did not feature in any of the three games during the trip to Europe, but is likely to be in the line-up having trained with the senior players.

"There are no serious injuries but we'll not take any chances if the players have a niggle or some sort of problems," said Metsu. They side arrived in Abu Dhabi this week after training under more conducive weather conditions in Europe, where they could train for longer periods on fitness and technical skills. Metsu has set an ambitious target of six points after the opening two group games. "The draw has been kind to us as we have to play the first two matches at home, and our aim will be to earn full points from them," he added.

"It also means more hard work and only good results can take us forward." apassela@thenational.ae Abu Dhabi Sports (ko 9.30pm)

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

Analysis

Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more

The Brutalist

Director: Brady Corbet

Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn

Rating: 3.5/5

Grand Slam Los Angeles results

Men:
56kg – Jorge Nakamura
62kg – Joao Gabriel de Sousa
69kg – Gianni Grippo
77kg – Caio Soares
85kg – Manuel Ribamar
94kg – Gustavo Batista
110kg – Erberth Santos

Women:
49kg – Mayssa Bastos
55kg – Nathalie Ribeiro
62kg – Gabrielle McComb
70kg – Thamara Silva
90kg – Gabrieli Pessanha

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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.”

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation

- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut

- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.

- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.

- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.

 

Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

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2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition

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