They packed the stands, the scouts and talent-spotters, for Chile’s opening game at the Under 17 World Cup at the weekend. Spies with mandates from the biggest clubs in Europe, looking for the next big star from the narrow, thin nation that runs along the west coast of lower South America.
The logic is sound. Chile are the continent's champions at senior level; Chileans should be at the heart of club football's most enticing tie in Tuesday night's Uefa Champions League programme.
Back in early July, Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez and Bayern Munich's Arturo Vidal enjoyed their finest hour as colleagues, as compatriots. Make that their finest 20 minutes.
The final of the Copa America, which Chile had reached, went to penalties, after 0-0 over two hours of open play against Argentina. Vidal takes penalties expertly, has had years of practice, notably with Juventus. He converted the second of Chile’s spot kicks, for a 2-1 lead, Lionel Messi having scored for Argentina.
Poll: What will be the result of Arsenal v Bayern Munich at Emirates Stadium?
Sanchez, whose finishing, whose shooting power has made him the leading scorer so far this season for Arsenal, was designated to take the fourth penalty for Chile that night.
Argentina had fluffed two spot kicks by then, so Sanchez had the honour of striking the winning goal, in front of a partisan Santiago crowd, and making himself the image of his country’s excellence in its most popular sport, of a nation who had bettered the heavyweights, Brazil and Argentina.
Sanchez and Vidal share certain qualities: Ruggedness, energy, aggression. But they are different sorts of footballer.
Sanchez is the winger-turned-all-round-striker, who likes wearing the No 9, but would balk at being asked to simply act as a goal-hanger.
Vidal is the hammer-and-tongs midfielder who would raise a puzzled eyebrow if you classified him only as an anchorman. Yes, his relish for the saving tackle, the regaining of possession, is evident, but he was also Juventus’s top goalscorer in 2012/13, a title-winning season for the club. Being an ace penalty-taker accounted for some, but not all of those goals.
Vidal, 28, moved from Juve to Bayern in July. Arsenal had been among several clubs interested in recruiting him, having weighed up the benefits of his all-round game against the risk that his patchy record of fitness represented.
In Munich, he has points still to prove. Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern’s honorary president, last month criticised Vidal’s work-rate and claimed “the club don’t need him”.
Other than lifting the Copa America — he was man of the match in the final — Vidal had a testing summer. His performance in the Champions League final, his last match for Juventus, had been mixed, his pugnacity in the early phases of the 3-1 defeat to Barcelona excessive and in danger of earning a red card.
He missed some of Bayern’s pre-season, and was charged with drink-driving in Chile during the Copa.
That cost him some respect from compatriots. Sanchez, though a little frosty with the media, has in the past two years overtaken Vidal as the country’s most admired sporting figurehead. His move to Barcelona from Italy’s Udinese, in 2011, helped raise his profile and his impact at Arsenal, who are seeking their first points of a shaky European campaign against Bayern, has been immense.
“Delightful,” Arsene Wenger called him at the weekend, when Sanchez, 26, scored the third goal in the 3-0 Premier League win against Watford. “He’s what you want to watch if you like football.”
And he is one red-hot Chilean right now. Sanchez has 10 goals in his last six matches, including the three he scored for his country during the recent international break. Bayern know which Arsenal man they have to police most vigilantly. Expect Vidal to spend some time hounding his countryman.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Series result
1st ODI Zimbabwe won by 6 wickets
2nd ODI Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets
3rd ODI Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets
4th ODI Zimbabwe won by 4 wickets
5th ODI Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
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3/5
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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.”
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
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.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
