It is perhaps the most prestigious ‘Double’ in international football: World Cup holders and champions of Europe at the same time. West Germany achieved it in the 1970s. France followed up their 1998 World Cup by claiming the Euros two years later. Spain added an extra tier to the feat: European Championship winners in 2008 and 2012, either side of their first World Cup.
Italy, according to their manager Roberto Mancini, intend to join this elect trio by the end of 2022. “We want to go there and win the World Cup,” Mancini said as he prepared for the Azzurri’s meeting with North Macedonia on Thursday.
It is a natural, logical ambition given how impressively Mancini’s Azzurri conquered last summer’s European Championship, pushing aside Belgium and Spain in the knockout rounds, keeping their composure to win the Euro 2020 final against England, at Wembley, on penalties.
The hitch is that the momentum built up at the Euros was not enough to carry Italy through World Cup qualifying as effectively as the likes of Germany, France and Spain. Those countries, like England, are spending this week and next fine-tuning their plans for Qatar 2022 having already secured their tickets there by topping their qualifying groups.
As did Switzerland, who finished above Italy, obliging Mancini and the men with whom he conquered Wembley only eight months ago to enter the new-look European play-off system. Italy will only be at the World Cup if they win in Sicily on Thursday, in the semi-final of Uefa’s Path C of the play-offs, and then defeat Portugal or Turkey, who play in the other semi, on Tuesday.
North Macedonia sit 67th in the Fifa rankings, and Mancini is aware of a broad assumption that the play-off semi is the straightforward part, that the nasty punchline is likeliest to come in a meeting with Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and company in Porto at the play-off final.
Both Italy’s manager and Fernando Santos, the veteran coach who guided Portugal to the 2016 European Championship title, are anxious to avoid assumptions, or giving the impression that a likely Portugal-Italy showdown is playing on their minds already. Yet Mancini is leaving some clues that his strategy over the next five days cannot simply be to take one game at a time.
Take the dilemma over his captain, Giorgio Chiellini. The 37-year-old defender, returning from injury, has played just 45 minutes for his club, Juventus, since February 6. Mancini seems minded to rest Chiellini, so the captain can be more ready to face 90 minutes - or 120, if it goes to extra time - against Portugal or Turkey next week.
Italy are already set to line up an unfamiliar defence, with all four of the back line essentially understudies. Chiellini’s enduring partner for club and country, Leonardo Bonucci has been out for the best part of month with a calf problem. Once again, the instinct from the coaching staff is to give him four more days of recuperation ahead of a possible final.
The Napoli right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo is also out injured while the dynamic left-back Leonardo Spinazzola, who ruptured his Achilles tendon during the Euros, is still waiting to make his comeback for Roma.
Bonucci, 34, and Chiellini cannot help but look on this crossroads moment nervously. The 2022 World Cup would almost certainly be their last. Four years ago, they were in the Italy team that met Sweden in a more conventional two-leg, home and away decider for a place at the World Cup in Russia.
Italy went through the entire 180 minutes without a goal, Sweden defending a 1-0 advantage for the last two hours of the tie. The then Italy manager Gian Piero Ventura quit immediately. It was the first World Cup since 1958 that Italy had failed to reach.
On the way to those deflating nights against Sweden, points had been dropped in the group phase, condemning Italy to the play-off route. And North Macedonia were part of the problem. Italy drew 1-1 at home against them; they only beat the Macedonians 3-2 away thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Ciro Immobile.
“It will not be easy,” said Mancini, “and of course we’d have preferred to avoid the play-offs this time. But I have only one scenario in my head and it is not Scenario B, the negative one. I’m focused on Scenario A.”
That’s the one that leads all the way to lifting the 2022 World Cup.
The specs
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Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
THE BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.
Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.
Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.
CHELSEA SQUAD
Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
