The Arabian Gulf League (AGL) is on a 24-day break for the latest round of international football, but that does not mean the action stops.
Two rounds of League Cup games are being played in the meantime, starting with three games on Wednesday night.
The league’s UAE internationals will not be available as Mahdi Ali, the national-team manager, has his team in training for Saturday’s friendly against the Philippines in Abu Dhabi with an eye on the 2015 Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong on November 15.
Several foreign players are out of action, too.
Baniyas travel to Sharjah without Carlos Munoz, their prolific Chile forward, who has joined his national team for their upcoming friendlies against England on November 15 and Brazil four days later. “We will definitely miss him for the two cup games, but we can take a lot of satisfaction because of the fact his performance for Baniyas has not gone unnoticed,” said Khaled Al Junaibi, a club official.
“It is an important game, as both teams will have the chance to consolidate their position in Group A.”
Munoz has scored five times in the league and once in the League Cup this season.
Baniyas and Sharjah share the lead with Al Ain, who travel to Al Jazira on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Abdullah Misfir wants his players to show more consistency as Al Dhafra try to consolidate their position at the top of the Group B table.
Misfir’s side return from a 2-1 defeat to Al Wasl in the AGL for a home meeting with the bottom team Al Shabab at the Hamdan bin Zayed Stadium.
“We have played a couple of good games, and then come up with a poor performance. We need to show more fluency and consistency in our game,” Misfir said.
Dhafra’s league record reads won two, drawn two, lost two, which highlights their inconsistency.
But the two wins were against champions Al Ain and an away trip to third-place Sharjah, and Dhafra have won three of their four League Cup games.
Shabab, on the other hand, have only one point from three games.
Cosmin Olaroiu, the Al Ahli coach, has to cope with the absence of five key players and the fact that his side are playing their game at Al Wasl’s stadium, because their home pitch is being used for the Fifa Under 17 World Cup.
Ahli meet Ajman, the defending champions who are unbeaten in four games in Group B.
Abdulwahab Abdulqader, the Ajman coach, will have the full squad at his disposal, while Olaroiu will be without Ahmed Khalil, Walid Abbas, Abdulaziz Haikal, Majid Hassan and Ismail Al Hammadi.
Ahli got their cup campaign back on track with a 4-1 win over Wasl in their last game, following a loss to Dhafra in the opener and a 1-1 draw against Emirates.
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Barberis to take over for Rueda at Dubai
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Dubai Club have appointed Umberto Barberis, their former coach, as the replacement for Martin Rueda.
The Swiss-Italian, who took charge of the club for two matches early in the 2011/12 campaign, will be tasked with lifting his team from second-to-last place in the Arabian Gulf League, with his first assignment at home against Al Wasl on November 23.
Under Rueda, Dubai’s record was particularly poor, with four defeats in six league matches, while in the League Cup, they have taken a solitary point from four fixtures. They can no longer qualify for the quarter-finals.
“Dubai Club have several outstanding players with real potential and some energy that needs to be discovered,” said Barberis, 61, who has managed several clubs in his homeland. “In their last two matches, they led Sharjah until the last minute, and then held Jazira to a draw. This proves the club has talented players.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
Fanney Khan
Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
Director: Atul Manjrekar
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand
Rating: 2/5
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
F1 line ups in 2018
Mercedes-GP Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen; Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen; Force India Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez; Renault Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr; Williams Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa / Robert Kubica / Paul di Resta; McLaren Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne; Toro Rosso TBA; Haas F1 Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; Sauber TBA
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Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
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Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
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