DUBAI // Cometh the hour, cometh the men. That is Ivan Hasek's theory as he takes his side to Al Shabab tonight for the final, and most important, game of the season. Ahli need to defeat their Dubai rivals to maintain their one-point lead over Al Jazira and pip the Abu Dhabi giants to the inaugural Pro League title. And the reward for the winner is the small matter of a place in December's Fifa Club World Cup, which will be held in the country.
"We have worked 10 months for this and we cannot afford to let go now," said Hasek. "It is a derby match. Shabab have a very good team. They were the champions last year and reached the President's Cup final this year. They also played very well in their last game of the Champions League against Bunyodkor. So it is going to be one of the most difficult games of the year for us." Ahli could find the game a lot tougher if the embarrassing 5-3 defeat against Saba Battery is still preying on their minds. The crashed to defeat in that AFC Champions League match on Wednesday night after leading 3-0 until the 68th minute. Hasek, however, believes that humbling loss could have a positive influence on his side as the players will be keen to bounce back strongly.
He said: "All the players know what we need to do against Shabab. Against Saba Battery, we were playing for the third place in the group and for some players it probably was not a big motivation. The motivation will be lot greater in this game." If Ahli fail at Shabab and Jazira win at Ajman, Abel Braga's men return home with their first league title. Hasek, however, has urged his side to forget about Jazira.
"Of course, there will be pressure on us. But we played the President's Cup final last year, so the players know about pressure. If you want to be champions, you have to be able to perform under pressure." Hasek had rested the likes of Faisal Khalil, Bare, Mohammed Qassim, Hosny Abd Rabo and Obaid al Taweelah for the game against Saba, and they will return refreshed for tonight's match. "I think we are ready for this game," said the Czech boss. "We know we have to win the match, and we should stick together and play as a team, like we have done all through the season.
"The important thing is that everything is in our hands and we cannot let things slip." In recent days, speculation has been thrown about that Shabab might "help" their rivals to bring the trophy to Dubai. Toninho Cerezo, the Shabab coach, however finds such suggestions absurd. "I have only one thing to say - we are not just coaches, educating our players is part of our job too," he said. "Ethics are as important as winning. All my coaches and teachers have taught me just one thing: to play for a win and play fair.
"So I have never played for a draw or to lose. I have always played to win and that is what I have taught my players." Cerezo pointed out to the recent history between the two Dubai sides. In this decade alone, Shabab have been responsible for Ahli missing out on league title twice - taking points from them in 2001 and 2004 to allow Al Wahda and Al Ain, respectively, to take the title. "If you look at the history between Shabab and Ahli, you will see that the matches have always been tough and very competitive," added Cerezo. "We have played without any outside consideration; there have been no favours done.
"Anyway, Jazira and Ahli don't need help from any other team. Both of them have reached this stage through their own effort. They are both fighting for the title and the best one will win. "We are going to play against Ahli in the same way we played against Jazira. We went to Jazira for a win (a 4-1 defeat in the last match) and we will play for the same here." arizvi@thenational.ae Shabab v Ahli, KO 7.50pm, Abu Dhabi Sports 1
If Ahli win - the title is theirs regardless of Jazira's result If Ahli lose or draw - the title is Jazira's as long as they beat Ajman If Ahli lose and Jazira draw - the title will be decided by a play-off
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From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
It is driving positive change through innovation and technology, helping use resources more efficiently.
It aims to minimise the impact on the environment by leading by example in its projects in sustainable development and innovation, to become part of the solution to a more sustainable society now and into the future.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The results of the first round are as follows:
Qais Saied (Independent): 18.4 per cent
Nabil Karoui (Qalb Tounes): 15.58 per cent
Abdelfattah Mourou (Ennahdha party): 12.88 per cent
Abdelkarim Zbidi (two-time defence minister backed by Nidaa Tounes party): 10.7 per cent
Youssef Chahed (former prime minister, leader of Long Live Tunisia): 7.3 per cent
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
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On sale: Now
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
India cancels school-leaving examinations
Honeymoonish
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