The pattern since last spring is familiar: the United States do well in the first half and fade as the final whistle approaches.
The former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner took advantage of a defence that gave up two more late goals to score his first international hat trick, and Denmark rallied to beat the US 3-2 in a friendly at Aarhus on Wednesday night.
“It’s very disappointing because it’s not the first time we let a game get away from us in the last few minutes,” Michael Bradley said after his first start as American captain. “It’s something that we’ve got to start to learn from.”
Jozy Altidore scored in the first half and set up former club teammate Aron Johannsson’s goal in the second. But Bendtner levelled for the hosts in the 83rd minute and got the winner in the first minute of added time.
Christian Eriksen looped a ball over the defence and Bendtner ran onto it, took a touch and beat goalkeeper Nick Rimando from about 15 yards for his 29th goal in 65 international appearances.
Altidore was frustrated the Americans “gave a game away like that”.
“The goals we gave up were just soft,” he said. “We’re not hard enough to play against.”
The US have just two wins from 11 matches since beating Ghana in their opener at the 2014 World Cup, where they were knocked out by Belgium in the second round. The Americans have given up 12 goals from the 80th minute on in their past 12 matches.
John Brooks had a chance to tie it in the third minute of added time but put an open header wide off Bradley’s pass. The Danes outshot the US 12-4.
“We have to step it up in terms of managing the game all 90 minutes,” US coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “Maybe you’re just losing the focus for a second, just losing your marker because of heavy legs, getting tired a little bit.”
Klinsmann changed seven starters from last month’s 2-0 home win over Panama, keeping only Rimando, midfielders Bradley and Gyasi Zardes, and Altidore.
On a cool evening Klinsmann changed his entire back line, starting Timmy Chandler on the right, Michael Orozco and Brooks in the centre and Greg Garza on the left. Alejandro Bedoya and Fabian Johnson also were in the midfield of a 4-4-2 formation, and Johannsson was up front.
Club America defender Ventura Alvarado, eligible to play for the US and Mexico, made his international debut when he entered in the 80th minute.
Altidore put the Americans ahead in the 19th minute with his 27th international goal. After an unmarked Bendtner levelled in the 33rd, Johannsson gave the US the lead in the 66th off a pass from Altidore, who played with him on the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar during the second half of the 2012/13 season. Johannsson made his first national team appearance since the World Cup.
Before Johannsson’s goal, the US had been outscored 9-0 in the second half of games since the World Cup while outscoring opponents 9-2 in first halves.
The US were missing regular captain Clint Dempsey and defender Jermaine Jones because of injuries. Klinsmann bypassed No 1 goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defenders Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron and Omar Gonzalez.
Altidore’s goal, his fourth in six games, came against the run of play. Chandler lofted a 40-yard cross from the right flank, and Altidore got by Daniel Wass. Running onto the ball after a bounce, Altidore took a left-footed shot from 8 yards that deflected off sliding defender Simon Kjaer and beat goalkeeper Stephan Andersen.
Bradley created the second American goal when he played a 30-yard pass over the defence to Altidore, who burst past Wass. Altidore took a touch and laid off the ball to Johannsson, who scored from 8 yards on the field of AGF Aarhus, the club he played for from 2010-13.
The Americans next play Switzerland on Tuesday in Zurich.
“We have to sit down tomorrow and in the coming week to figure out what we did wrong and fix that,” Johannsson said.
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Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
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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
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Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
Friday's schedule in Madrid
Men's quarter-finals
Novak Djokivic (1) v Marin Cilic (9) from 2pm UAE time
Roger Federer (4) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 7pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Alexander Zverev (3) from 9.30pm
Stan Wawrinka v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11.30pm
Women's semi-finals
Belinda Bencic v Simona Halep (3) from 4.30pm
Sloane Stephens (8) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 10pm
TOURNAMENT INFO
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Thursday results
UAE beat Kuwait by 86 runs
Qatar beat Bahrain by five wickets
Saudi Arabia beat Maldives by 35 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, third-place playoff – Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
3pm, final – UAE v Qatar
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.”
Company Profile
Name: Takestep
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Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
TOP 5 DRIVERS 2019
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 wins 387 points
2 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 4 wins, 314 points
3 Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 3 wins, 260 points
4 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2 wins, 249 points
5 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1 win, 230 points
Director: Nag Ashwin
Starring: Prabhas, Saswata Chatterjee, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Shobhana
Rating: ★★★★
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Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
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Director: Mohamed Kordofani
Starring: Siran Riak, Eiman Yousif, Nazar Goma
Rating: 5/5
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
Read more from Johann Chacko
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