Saudi Arabia were less than a minute from a result for the ages, but South Korea's substitutes combined and instead an engrossing Asian Cup victory was theirs.
In the end, it was Son Heung-min and Co that kept their tournament dream alive, the two-time champions coming through a titanic last-16 clash at Education City Stadium on penalties on Monday to book a place in the quarter-finals in Qatar.
Maybe that 64-year wait for trophy No 3 will meet its end in less than two weeks’ time. Australia, the 2015 winners, form the next obstacle to overcome for Jurgen Klinsmann’s crew, on Friday. For Roberto Mancini’s men, they depart Doha no doubt bogged down by what might have been.
They were so close. Ninety-nine minutes had elapsed in Al Rayyan when Seol Young-woo met a deep cross, directed his header back across goal, and Cho Gue-sung nodded home.
Saudi, 1-0 up in an instant at the start of the second half through Abdullah Radif, had been pegged back at the death.
Their exit was soon confirmed. Jo Hyeon-woo saved in the shootout from Sami Al Najei and Adbulrahman Ghareeb, and Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan sealed it.
It was hard on not only on the Saudi players, but also their support, especially the large section camped behind their goal in the first half, who had made their presence felt from the off. Having roared through the announcement of their line-up pre-match, they roundly booed Son’s name. It figured; the South Korea captain is comfortably Asia’s foremost footballer.
Once the action began, every passage of South Korean possession played out to a tune of 42,000-plus whistles. If the early exchanges were cagey to say the least, the magnitude of the occasion, and what was on offer, perhaps pinched at the players.
The first time the contest did open up, Son raced away from the Saudi defence but, as he checked to cut inside from a trademark curled shot, Hassan Tambakti thwarted him. Given the reaction it elicited from the defender’s compatriots in the stands, you would have thought Saudi Arabia had gone 1-0 up.
If that was the only real moment to set pulses racing, after a pretty placid opening 25 minutes, the match burst into life. First, Son was played in over the top by full-back Kim Tae-hwan and, having controlled well and then converged on the Saudi goal, he shot through Tambakti’s legs but straight at goalkeeper Ahmed Al Kassar.
At the other end, Salem Al Dawsari burst suddenly to life, the current Asian Player of the Year slaloming past an opponent before releasing Saleh Al Shehri. The Al Hilal striker, preferred by Mancini despite his lack of game-time for his club, dragged wide from the edge of the penalty area.
On 40 minutes, Saudi twice shuddered twice the South Korea crossbar. Al Shehri thumped a header from a corner off the woodwork Ali Lajami powered the rebound off the crossbar, and Al Dawsari nodded a third effort inches wide. The Saudi support erupted in unison.
They wouldn’t have long into the second half to wait for another opportunity. One minute after the break, Al Dawsari flicked the ball, probably inadvertently, through to Radif, who took one touch, steadied himself, and swept his shot past Jo. Radif took off towards those packed in behind the advertising hoardings, his teammates trying to keep pace.
Introduced at half-time in place of Al Shehri, the goal represented his initial two touches. Talk about instant impact.
Tails up, Saudi sought to turn the screw. Mohammed Kanno, willed on by the majority of Education City, fired a couple of shots from range well off target.
Abdullah Al Khaibari fizzed one at Jun, although it was comfortable for the Korean; Radif pulled a low drive across goal; Al Dawsari, relatively quiet bar that first-half jolt, seemed to have extra intent in his step.
Even Lajami, who blocked South Korea’s advances, threw himself into challenges, or glanced clear crosses. The Al Nassr defender embodied Saudi’s never-say-die attitude.
Apparently caught up in the emotion of it all, Mancini was called from his dugout and booked.
With five minutes remaining, Al Kassar deflected away Hwang In-beom’s goal-bound shot with an outstretched leg, Tambakti blocked twice almost on his line, and Al Kassar repelled a pair of far-post headers.
In the third minute of 10 allocated for injury-time, Cho headed on to the Saudi crossbar. Hwang screwed wide when played in.
Surely Saudi could not hold on to their lead? They could not. Seol found Cho and South Korea were level. Their bench raced from the dugout, leaving Klinsmann to punch the air repeatedly in delight. It was some reprieve for the under-fire German.
In the first period of extra-time, Kim Min-jae tested Al Kassar from a corner; in the second, Hong Hyun-seok, Cho and Son somehow contrived to spurn a golden chance. Then Al Kassar denied Lee Kang-in at full stretch.
And then to penalties. Jo pushed away the two spot-kicks, leaving Hwang to apply the final flourish. At one point seemingly done and dusted, South Korea’s Asian Cup dream sustains until Friday – and maybe even further.
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
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On sale: Now
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