Everton winger Aiden McGeady’s experience of Russian football gives him reason to be confident as the club travel to face FC Krasnodar in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
The Premier League club have had a slow start to their domestic campaign but were buoyed by their 1-1 draw with Liverpool in last weekend’s Merseyside derby and are now looking to make it two wins out of two in Group H.
Roberto Martinez’s side were impressive 4-1 winners against Wolfsburg in their opening game two weeks ago, while Krasnodar are in their first ever European campaign and started with a 1-1 draw in Lille.
“It’ll be a tough game. Going away to these places in Europe, in the Europa League especially, they are never easy,” Ireland star McGeady, who moved to Goodison Park in January after spending three and a half years with Spartak Moscow, told Everton TV.
“But I think we have enough quality to get out of this group easily enough and get as far as we can.”
McGeady, 28, added that Everton need not expect an especially intimidating atmosphere in southern Russia.
“Krasnodar isn’t a massive football city. The stadium is your typical old Soviet stadium – running track around it, quite far away from the pitch. It’s not really a hostile environment.”
Kevin Mirallas is on the sidelines with a hamstring injury and Martinez fears that the problem, which forced him off against Liverpool, could be more serious than first feared.
“It’s not normal when Kevin Mirallas feels something like that and has to come off in the game. We know then that it is something serious,” said the Spaniard, who confirmed that tests have been ongoing to determine the exact nature of the injury.
Everton were also sweating on Seamus Coleman, Sylvain Distin and Steven Pienaar for the game, while Wolfsburg and Lille meet in the other match in the group.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur entertain Besiktas at White Hart Lane also encouraged by their performance in a derby, in their case last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Besiktas have already visited north London this season – Slaven Bilic’s side were edged out by Arsenal in the play-offs for a place in the Champions League group stage.
They are unbeaten in the Turkish Super Lig so far but only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Greek side Asteras Tripolis in their opening game in Group C.
“If we play the same way we did at Arsenal, we should have no problems but we need to repeat that performance,” said Spurs defender Younes Kaboul, whose side drew 0-0 with Partizan Belgrade last time out.
“We have set the tone. From the first whistle, we showed we wanted to do something.”
However, their chances of gaining momentum may not be helped if manager Mauricio Pochettino chooses, as expected, to rotate his squad with one eye on this weekend’s match with Southampton in the Premier League.
Scottish champions Celtic also drew their opening group game, in their case a 2-2 stalemate in Austria against Red Bull Salzburg, despite twice taking the lead.
Ronny Deila’s side are currently five points off the pace in the Scottish Premiership, albeit with a game in hand, but while domestic success is obligatory for the Glasgow giants, Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk has also urged his teammates to go on a run as they prepare to host Dinamo Zagreb in Glasgow.
“It’s very important for us to put together a good run in the Europa League,” he said.
“We started well against Salzburg and if we’re full of confidence and play well then we can go through into the next round.”
However, Croatian champions Dinamo started their Group D campaign in ominous fashion, crushing Romanian side Astra Giurgiu 5-1.
Among the pick of the ties elsewhere on Thursday, two-time former Uefa Cup winners Feyenoord host Standard Liege in Rotterdam in Group G, while another Dutch side, PSV Eindhoven, go to Dynamo Moscow in Group E.
And in Group F, Saint-Etienne take on Ukrainian league leaders Dnipro while Inter Milan entertain Qarabag, the outsiders from Azerbaijan.
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
PROFILE OF STARZPLAY
Date started: 2014
Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand
Number of employees: 125
Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
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
South Africa squad
: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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.”
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKinetic%207%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rick%20Parish%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Clean%20cooking%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self-funded%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm
