Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez, right, gestures during a friendly football match against Costa Rica at Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 6, 2015.  AFP PHOTO / Alejandro PAGNI
Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez, right, gestures during a friendly football match against Costa Rica at Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 6, 2015. AFP PHOTO / AlejShow more

Copa America preview: Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez makes Colombia strong title contenders



If Colombia can keep up the momentum from last year’s World Cup they could challenge favourites Brazil and Argentina and hosts Chile for the 2015 Copa America and add to their only title, won on home soil in 2001.

The chance to see the Colombians in competitive action for the first time since last year’s finals, where their free-flowing football made them one of the most entertaining of the 32 participants, should be one of the highlights in Chile.

Coach Jose Pekerman is still in charge and has kept the core of his squad together, minus central defender Mario Yepes who has retired from international duty.

Photo gallery: 12 Copa America players to watch

Pekerman will this time be able to call on striker Radamel Falcao, who missed the World Cup through injury.

However, his lacklustre season at Manchester United means he could find himself fighting with Jackson Martinez, Carlos Bacca and Teo Gutierrez for a place in the starting line-up.

The centre of defence remains a headache and, with Cristian Zapata, who played alongside Yepes in Brazil, struggling to get into a poor AC Milan side, Pekerman might instead opt for youngsters Eder Balanta and Jeison Murillo.

Another worry is in midfield where the absence of the injured Fredy Guarin is a significant blow.

Naturally, the form of attacking midfielder James Rodriguez, the inspiration behind the World Cup performance, will be key to Colombia’s hopes. After a season in the shadows of Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, Rodriguez, 23, may thrive back in the spotlight, which will be good news for Colombia and the tournament as a whole.

Previous appearances 19 (first in 1947)

Best performance Winners: 2001

Draw Group C with Brazil, Peru and Venezuela

Fifa world ranking 4

Coach: Jose Pekerman

Pekerman made his name as a developer of talent when he won three successive world under-20 championships in charge of his native Argentina.

He was promoted to coach of the senior side after Marcelo Bielsa quit in 2004 and led them to the quarter-finals at the 2006 World Cup.

A former midfielder whose career was cut short by injury, he worked as a taxi driver before getting his chance as youth coach at Buenos Aires club Chacarita Juniors.

He followed that up with unremarkable stints at Mexican clubs Toluca and UANL and had been out of the game for three years before Colombia came calling in 2012. Taking over with the team in a difficult situation in the qualifying competition, he led them to the World Cup quarter-finals, their best-ever performance in the tournament.

Key player: James Rodriguez

A gifted attacking midfielder with a magical left foot, Rodriguez was the inspiration behind Colombia’s run to the last eight at the World Cup in Brazil last year.

He finished as the tournament top scorer after notching six goals in five matches, including a spectacular effort against Uruguay which was voted as FIFA’s best goal of the year.

Many felt that he, and not Lionel Messi, should have been given the Player of the Tournament award and it was on the back of those performances that Real Madrid signed him from Monaco.

He helped Banfield win their first Argentine league title as a teenager in 2009 and then moved to Porto where his potential became obvious.

Squad

Goalkeepers David Ospina (Arsenal), Camilo Vargas (Atletico Nacional), Cristian Bonilla (La Equidad)

Defenders Camilo Zuniga (Napoli), Santiago Arias (PSV Eindhoven), Carlos Valdes (Nacional de Montevideo), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Jeison Murillo (Granada), Pablo Armero (Flamengo), Pedro Franco (Besiktas), Darwin Andrade (Standard Liege)

Midfielders Alexander Mejia (Monterrey), Carlos Sanchez (Aston Villa), Edwin Cardona (Monterrey), Edwin Valencia (Santos), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid), Juan Guillermo Cuadrado (Chelsea), Victor Ibarbo (AS Roma)

Forwards Radamel Falcao (Manchester United), Carlos Bacca (Sevilla), Jackson Martinez (Porto), Teofilo Gutierrez (River Plate), Luis Fernando Muriel (Sampdoria)

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List of officials:

Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.

Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.

How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press

Company profile

Name: Infinite8

Based: Dubai

Launch year: 2017

Number of employees: 90

Sector: Online gaming industry

Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)

Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)

Saturday

Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)

Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)

Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)

Sunday

Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)

Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)

Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)

 

 

Cricket World Cup League Two

Oman, UAE, Namibia

Al Amerat, Muscat

 

Results

Oman beat UAE by five wickets

UAE beat Namibia by eight runs

 

Fixtures

Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia

Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE

Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia

Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants

Key Points
  • Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
  • Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
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PAKISTAN SQUAD

Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.

The 12 breakaway clubs

England

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus

Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

Landfill in numbers

• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane

• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming

• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi

• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year

• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away

• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition

Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding

Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.

Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.

Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.

For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae

 

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

Company profile

Company: Verity

Date started: May 2021

Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif

Based: Dubai

Sector: FinTech

Size: four team members

Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000

Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year