Cosmin Olaroiu really does not need to audition for the job of UAE coach. The Romanian can just point to the steady stream of trophies he has won across Asia, including 14 with three different teams in the UAE alone.
But if a reminder was required as to just what the 55-year-old coach can offer as the next man in for the national team, his Sharjah side provided it in stunning fashion late on Tuesday night.
They were 1-0 down on aggregate deep into injury time at the end of the second leg of their AFC Champions League Two semi-final against Saudi side Al Taawoun.
Still, they would not let up. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Ousmane Camara, who had a bandaged head and had not stopped running all night, bundled in an equaliser.
The packed stands at Sharjah Sports Club were ecstatic that they had 30 more minutes in which to try to find a way through to another final.
They didn’t need it. In the ninth minute of the 10 that were to be added at the end of the game, substitute Firas Ben Larbi lashed in the winning goal.
It means Sharjah will face the winners of Wednesday’s second semi-final, between Sydney FC and Lion City Sailors, in the final of the continental tournament.
That is in addition to the President’s Cup final, in which they will face Shabab Al Ahli. And they are not yet out of the UAE Pro League title race, either.
All of which is Olaroiu’s magic at work. It is little wonder he is said to be the next UAE coach in waiting. It is understood he is set to fill the role left vacant since Paulo Bento was dismissed at the end of last month.
Ahead of the first leg against Taawoun, Olaroiu said that nothing had yet been finalised with the national team. He is reportedly set to be given the chance to finish what he has started with Sharjah before making the switch at the end of the season.
If that does come to pass, the window with which he will have to ready the national team for two vital World Cup qualifiers – against Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in June – will only be brief.
And yet if anyone can motivate the players to believe they can turn around the four-point deficit to the Uzbeks, and claim one of the two automatic qualifying berths for the World Cup, it is surely Olaroiu.
The never-say-die attitude of the Sharjah players in the stunning late turnaround against Taawoun was evidence enough. It is a trait of all Olaroiu’s teams.
“You have to achieve these things over time,” Olaroiu said. “The players have to believe. They have to believe in the work they have done, and have the motivation.
“I was talking to the coach from Taawoun [Mohammed Al Abdali] before the game, and he said he tried to motivate them. I said, ‘Look, it is very difficult to motivate someone. The words that we tell them are an activation not a motivation'.
“The motivation comes from inside them, and shows itself in the times that you need it. These guys [the Sharjah players], they have it.
“Always, we try to make them understand the power they have inside them to go over any obstacle in life. It is not just about football; it is about everything in life.
“Life is a challenge, and a football game is always a challenge. If you don’t believe [in yourself] you are better off not coming.”
Caio Lucas, the Sharjah and UAE forward, said the players all respect Olaroiu because of what he has achieved in the game.
“Speaking about the coach is very simple,” Lucas said. “He played football, and he knows so much about football.
“He is a really good guy who knows how to speak to players. He knows how to treat the players, and we respect him a lot because we know he has won everything.
“In terms of this game, we worked so hard. Now we have to enjoy this, rest, and work hard before the final.”
While the late comeback win thrilled Sharjah fans, there were also supporters spotted in the stands wearing Al Wasl and Al Ain shirts.
Olaroiu said he hopes his side’s presence in the final – at a venue yet to be disclosed – will make the whole country proud.
“The players are very happy to be in the final, the supporters are happy, and I hope all fans of UAE football are proud of this team and these players,” Olaroiu said.
“The most important having arrived here is we have to go till the end. We have been in eight finals in three and a half years, and we have to go ahead and try to win this trophy, and now we have the chance to do it.”
The years Ramadan fell in May
The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
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
9 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
4 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
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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.”
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
