On this day 24 years ago – June 15, 1990 – the UAE national team played the biggest match in the country's football history.
Their second group match at Italia ’90 proved to be a painful experience, the Emiratis going down 5-1 to West Germany at the San Siro stadium in Milan.
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But the scoreline overlooks the bigger picture. This was a magnificent German team that won the competition by beating Argentina 1-0 in the final in Rome.
Franz Beckenbauer’s team also thrashed an excellent Yugoslavia 4-1 in Group D, in which the UAE lost all three games. Colombia were the other team in the group
In Milan, in one of the biggest World Cup mismatches, the UAE held the Germans at bay for more than half an hour. In goal Mohsin Musabah performed heroics and the German strikers, led by Jurgen Klinsmann, were denied several clear-cut chances.
Then two quick goals, by Rudi Voller in the 35th minute and Klinsmann two minutes later, looked to have brought the Emirati resistance to an end.
Yet when Carlos Alberto Parreira's team came out for the second half, they had renewed spirit.
Within a minute of the restart, Khalid Ismail scored one of the UAE's most famous goals to halve the deficit and allow the few Emirati fans inside the stadium, and thousands back home, to dream of a famous comeback.
Sadly, the dream lasted barely a minute as German captain Lothar Matthaus scored a superb, curled goal to restore the two-goal lead.
Further strikes by Uwe Bein and Voller completed the rout and, having lost their opening match 2-0 to Colombia, the UAE were on their way out of the World Cup.
In the stands of the San Siro, a lone fan stood waving the UAE flag. He knew there was no shame in losing to such an experienced team – simply qualifying for the tournament was the UAE's biggest achievement.
Twenty-four years on, we are still waiting for that feat to be emulated.
akhaled@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
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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.”
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'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
