Preparations for potentially vital Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers continued to pick up pace at the start of the week despite the fact the 2015 finals may not even take place, rendering the last two rounds of preliminaries meaningless.
Teams face a key set of matches in the penultimate round of qualifiers on Friday and Saturday, and complete the process next week as 15 finalists will be determined by the group standings.
Algeria and the Cape Verde Islands have already secured their berths.
A total of 28 teams are chasing spots at the January tournament, which is almost certain to be taken away from Morocco and either moved to a new venue or cancelled completely when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decide on the matter in the coming days.
Morocco want a postponement of the finals to a later date because of fears over the spread of the Ebola virus but CAF are refusing to budge on the January 17-February 8 timetable.
Their executive committee, meeting in Cairo, will determine what happens to the 2015 finals.
The decision would arrive before the weekend qualifiers but all games were going ahead irrespective of the outcome, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
It is just whether they will have any meaning by the time they kick off on Friday that remains to be seen.
Defending champions Nigeria and other heavyweights like Egypt, the Ivory Coast and 2012 winners Zambia face a watershed weekend in their battle to stay in contention to make the final field.
Nigeria have coach Stephen Keshi back after uncertainty over his future, while the Ivory Coast have turned to veteran talent to try and revive their hopes.
But former captain Didier Zokora, recalled despite announcing his international retirement in August, has turned down a surprise call-up for the matches in Abidjan against Sierra Leone and Cameroon.
Egypt have an injury depleted squad as they need to beat Senegal in Cairo on Saturday and Tunisia away next week.
Zambia have purged much of the squad that won them the continental title in 2012 as they have struggled to get going in their group.
Most squads assembled on Monday as a large chunk of players travelled south after weekend club commitments at their European clubs.
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Company%20Profile
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88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Sunday's Super Four matches
Dubai, 3.30pm
India v Pakistan
Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangladesh v Afghanistan
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Company%20Profile
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
TEAMS
US Team
Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth
Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger
Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler
Kevin Kisner, Patrick Reed
Matt Kuchar, Kevin Chappell
Charley Hoffman*, Phil Mickelson*
International Team
Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day
Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen
Marc Leishman, Charl Schwartzel
Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim
Jhonattan Vegas, Adam Hadwin
Emiliano Grillo*, Anirban Lahiri*
* denotes captain's picks