How do you measure progress? In the case of Africa's first World Cup, the continent itself will cling to slender measures of how far it has moved forward on the field.
An African team, Ghana, reached the quarter-finals, which had happened only twice before. An optimistic interpretation of what the Black Stars achieved would point out they came closer to a semi-final than any other side from the continent.
In 1990, Cameroon led England 2-1 with seven minutes left of their quarter-final; in extra-time England scored a third goal and were through. In 2002, Senegal lost to Turkey on the now defunct "golden goal", scored three minutes into extra time.
In 2010 Ghana took Uruguay to a penalty shoot-out - to beyond 120 minutes - having been scandalously denied a 120th-minute goal by the Luis Suarez handball that Asamoah Gyan failed to punish when he struck the consequent spot-kick against the crossbar. A centimetre or so kept Ghana from the last four.
The bad news? Five other African teams fell at the first hurdle; it made Africa effectively the worst-performing continent, on its own soil. Asian football reached a new milestone with South Korea and Japan breaching the group stage for the first time in a World Cup outside their own territory; the United States and Mexico both reached the last 16 to uphold the pride of North and Central America.
South America propelled all its five teams into the last 16, four into the last eight and one into the last four. Europe collected gold, silver and bronze and even Oceania passed through the tournament unbeaten.
Put brutally, little New Zealand ended up with three times as many points as either Nigeria or Algeria, and three points more than barren Cameroon. In the search for alibis for wretched showings by some of Africa's so-called heavyweights, Cameroon are left most vulnerable.
Their football at times looked strong enough to win their games, but that momentum was barely sustained, they made bad errors to concede goals and were playing out their sad early exit against a background of in-fighting that may not have caught as many headlines and been quite as explicit as, say, the France squad's problems, but had much of the same destructive force.
It is a pity for a footballer as great as Samuel Eto'o that his World Cup odyssey, which began when he set records for his precociousness in 1998, should end thus. But Eto'o was the captain, and in any mutiny the skipper holds a share of the blame. Nor did Cameroon have the excuse of a big injury blow before the tournament. The rest of the African teams did.
In May, Ghana lost Michael Essien, the would-be captain and gifted midfielder. In early June, Nigeria lost Mikel John Obi, their midfield schemer. South Africa did not select their most experienced world player and leading all-time scorer, Benni McCarthy, on the grounds that he was not match fit.
Algeria, a pedestrian side, had to do without the creative Mourad Meghni, injured shortly before the tournament. Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast's leader, suffered a broken elbow 11 days before the country's opening game. Drogba could not start against Portugal, the key fixture and a close match in which a little more thrust from the Africans might have sealed them three points rather than one.
But if the 2010 World Cup had a lesson, it was that celebrated veterans and dominant figureheads did not produce success.
Ghana, full of 20 and 21-year-old players, not only led the way without Essien, they made Sulley Muntari and Stephen Appiah, their other high-profile midfielders, substitutes for most of their adventure.
"This World Cup has clearly shown that the teams with a strong complement of young players made it to the end," said Danny Jordaan, head of the 2010 organising committee and an ex-CEO of the South African Football Association. "The key is to invest in youth and Africa needs to look at this if it wants to make an impact in 2014."
Jordaan has always zealously promoted the 2010 adventure - a huge atmospheric and largely an organisational success - as not just South Africa's World Cup but Africa's. As a new host, they should take the example of how the US handled the aftermath of the 1994 event, Jordaan said, and channel local enthusiasm into improved clubs and leagues in Africa.
"We should use the model of USA '94. They invested the money from the Cup in development and have been at every World Cup finals since."
Africa has a head start on the US: its football culture is far more developed than that of the States. Which is a good thing because it has hundreds of millions of devotees. And it is bad thing because some unfortunate habits - the high turnover of coaches, the internal squabbles - have become so deeply entrenched.
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
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.
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.”
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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
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