Brazil’s Neymar vies for the ball with Iraq’s Alaa Ali during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Men’s First Round Group A football match against Iraq, at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia on August 7, 2016. (AFP)
Brazil’s Neymar vies for the ball with Iraq’s Alaa Ali during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Men’s First Round Group A football match against Iraq, at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia on August 7, 2016. (AFP)
Brazil’s Neymar vies for the ball with Iraq’s Alaa Ali during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Men’s First Round Group A football match against Iraq, at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia on August 7, 2016. (AFP)
Brazil’s Neymar vies for the ball with Iraq’s Alaa Ali during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Men’s First Round Group A football match against Iraq, at the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia on August 7, 2

Sport

Rio 2016: Brazil again give fans reason to jeer as football team draws with Iraq

Brazil, which has never won the Olympic gold medal in men’s football, failed to win for the second consecutive game, held to a 0-0 draw by Iraq on Sunday.

Associated Press

August 08, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

Disappointed yet again, the Brazilian fans jeered their own team and saved their applause for Iraq.

Brazil, which has never won the Olympic gold medal in men’s football, failed to win for the second consecutive game, held to a 0-0 draw by Iraq on Sunday.

The result leaves Brazil tied for second place in Group A. The team needs a victory over Denmark on Wednesday in Salvador to advance and avoid another huge embarrassment at home two years after the 7-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup semi-finals.

Neymar, the tournament’s biggest star, played below expectations for the second straight game, and promising young strikers Gabigol and Gabriel Jesus also struggled.

Voicing their frustration, the fans chanted “Marta, Marta” in reference to the five-time world player of the year who has been thriving with the women’s national team.

And as the Iraqis rejoiced on the field after the draw, the fans applauded the team and broke out into chants of “Iraq, Iraq.”

Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto had his team’s best chance for Brazil, but his volley from close range sailed over the crossbar with the goalkeeper already beaten.

Brazil is trying to win its first gold medal in football and it arrived for Sunday’s match under pressure after a disappointing 0-0 draw in the opener against South Africa.

The crowd of more than 60,000 started supporting Brazil but it grew anxious as the team struggled against Iraq, jeering the players at halftime and more and more toward the end of the match.

Gabriel Jesus, who last week secured a multimillion-dollar transfer to Manchester City, missed a few decent chances early and was loudly booed when he was substituted in the second half.

Brazil also had a goal by Gabigol disallowed in the 28th because of offside, and Augusto hit the crossbar with a shot just before halftime.

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Director: Sharat Katariya

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England's all-time record goalscorers:
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Tomorrow 2021

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.

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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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