Burkina Faso 1 Togo 0
(AET - 0-0 after 90 mins)
Unfancied Burkina Faso will play a Nations Cup semi-final outside their own country for the first time following an extra-time win over Togo in Nelspruit.
Jonathan Pitroipa headed in the only goal of an otherwise tedious contest seconds before the half-time whistle in extra-time.
The Rennes forward was one of the few creative influences and deservedly provided the decisive moment in a match that was hampered by a sandy surface at the Mbombela Stadium.
Burkina Faso have only once previously reached the last four, when they hosted the tournament in 1998, but had otherwise failed to register a win in the African finals before arriving in South Africa.
Paul Put's side will go into Wednesday's semi-final against Ghana, at this same venue, as underdogs although they will at least have experience of playing on a tricky surface that troubled both sides.
"What we worked on in training was put into practice," said Put afterwards.
"Physically, the players surprised me with what they gave tonight."
Burkina Faso, ranked 92 in the world, could have settled the match during regulation time but were denied what appeared a clear penalty on 76 minutes.
Prejuce Nakoulma went down under a tangle of legs with Vincent Bossou, only for the referee to wave his claims away.
Togo's attacking forays were rare, with star striker Emmanuel Adebayor conspicuously absent, although the Tottenham man could have had a penalty of his own moments later when Bakary Kone hastily lunged in.
Adebayor instead opted to keep his feet and it took goalkeeper Daouda Diakite to block his tight-angled shot after quickly leaving his line.
Togo were playing their first quarter-final at a major tournament and showed signs of stage fright, with only a scuffed Floyd Ayite effort providing a sign of their threat before half-time.
In an otherwise forgettable first 90 minutes Pitroipa at least crafted a couple of half-chances.
Late in the second half he and Nakoulma combined down the left but, after some pinball in the area, Pitroipa scooped a shot on to the top of the netting.
With the match sent into extra-time, it appeared both sides were waiting for penalties until Pitroipa eventually found the decisive touch.
Charles Kabore's corner found him unmarked at the near post and, with goalkeeper Kossi Agassa starting to leave his line to try to claim the ball, Pitroipa expertly guided his header into the net off the crossbar.
Togo coach Didier Six looked for the positives after the match.
"This young team with so many qualities made history by becoming the first from the country to reach the quarter-finals and the future is bright," he said.
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Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
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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