The UAE have moved to Australia’s biggest city as they prepare for the 2015 Asian Cup quarter-final against Japan, which can be fairly considered the biggest match of Mahdi Ali’s coaching career.
Bigger than the 2012 Olympics matches that had the UAE playing Uruguay at Old Trafford and Great Britain at Wembley, and bigger even than the 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations final in Manama, where the UAE were ultimately successful in beating Iraq 2-1.
Monday’s 1-0 defeat to Iran was painful, but when the UAE players took to the training field at Kogarah Oval here on Tuesday night you can be sure the single-minded coach already had shaken it out of their minds.
This is no time for self-pity: this quarter-final is what they have been working towards for many years.
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Mahdi Ali’s men take on the current Asian champions and favourites for this tournament.
A team who have in their ranks international superstars such as Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and Shinji Okazaki in a match where the eyes of a continent will be on both teams.
Matches do not come much bigger than that.
The UAE have been in excellent form in Australia and the results have reflected that – even the undeserved last-gasp defeat to Iran was a performance of a team at the top of their game.
The UAE have not contested an Asian Cup quarter-final since 1996 but they go into this match with expectations rather than just hope.
Not only is this the biggest match of this young team’s journey, it is one of the biggest in the history of UAE football.
The UAE has never been held in such high esteem internationally, even in comparison to the nation’s first golden generation of footballers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
When, in 1989, the UAE qualified to the 1990 World Cup in a mini-qualifying tournament in Singapore, it was hailed as a miracle, a Cinderella story for a country only 18 years old.
Playing at that World Cup in Italy was a wonderful achievement but the expectations, in what amounted to a “group of death” for the UAE, were minimal at best.
They lost all their matches to Colombia (2-0), West Germany (5-1) and Yugoslavia (4-1).
The Gulf Cup triumphs, in 2007 and 2013, the UAE’s only senior international titles, are rightly cherished by Emiratis but are regional concerns. They fall short of the importance of Friday’s clash.
The UAE’s second-place finish at the 1996 Asian Cup remains their finest hour, but even that achievement can be viewed with caveats.
For a start, the tournament was held in the UAE with the home team playing all their matches at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, and only Saudi Arabia, who beat the Emirates in the final on penalties, had a team worthy of comparison with some of Asia’s finest today.
In every sense, the UAE have come a long way since. When Majed Naser leads out the team at the magnificent Stadium Australia in Sydney, the UAE will be participating in a final eight that holds four teams who played in the last World Cup, including Japan.
They will be doing it with a battle-hardened team at the heart of which is a world-class player at the peak of his powers, Omar Abdulrahman.
Playing at this level, even against a formidable Japanese team, is a great opportunity and one to be cherished.
A victory would be noticed throughout the football world and would leave the UAE two games short of a first Asian championship.
There is no need for Mahdi Ali’s Emiratis to worry about champions Japan.
On the contrary, it is Japan who should worry about them.
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World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
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Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
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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