When Mahdi Ali sits down to pick his starting XI for tonight's friendly against Kuwait, his first home game as the coach of the senior national team, he will be spoilt for choice. He has a wealth of talent in his squad, with healthy competition for every spot … except one.
Right at the top, at the front of his attack, his options, sadly, seem limited, especially in the absence of Ismail Matar, who scored two of the UAE's three goals in their Olympic campaign. As Thursday's match against Japan showed, Mahdi Ali is sorely missing a dependable striker who can convert good team performances into good results.
Ahmed Khalil has looked woefully off colour in recent times. His last goal for the Olympic team in an official match came during the Asian Games, against Uzbekistan, last November. Since then, he has failed to score in six competitive games with the Olympic team. He missed a couple of good chances against Japan as well.
Khalil also failed to find the back of the net for the senior team at the Asian Cup last year as the UAE returned from Qatar without scoring a goal in three games, despite creating the most chances among all the teams and impressing everyone.
Ali Mabkhout, Rashid Essa and Saeed Al Kathiri, the three other strikers in the squad for tonight's match, have had limited opportunities with Khalil being assured of his place in the starting 11.
Nobody doubts Khalil's talents. On ability, he is the best in the land and deserves his place in the squad, but he seems to be lacking in confidence at the moment. The constant media scrutiny, which inevitably follows every failure, will not help his cause. Perhaps, he needs some time off to rediscover his form. A few good games with his club side, Al Ahli, could bring back the Khalil of old.
In the meantime, the coach could cast his net wider and look at someone like Hassan Mohammed, who was the top scorer among Emiratis in the Pro League last season. The 22 year old was a regular starter for Dubai, scoring nine goals in 21 games in the league. He also had six goals in Dubai's Etisalat Cup campaign.
Mabkhout and Al Kathiri, on the other hand, struggled to get regular starts at their clubs. The former made 15 appearances for Al Jazira in the league and Etisalat Cup, scoring three goals, while the latter could manage only 11 games in those two tournaments with Al Wahda.
Their lack of playing time surely hampers their performances on national duty. In comparison, Hassan brings the confidence of regular starts and goals to the table.
Perhaps, playing for a smaller team like Dubai has been one of the reasons for his absence from the national team. His move to Al Nasr this season should help open the door. He was impressive at Dubai, clinical in his finishing and scored some quality goals. If he can maintain those performances under Walter Zenga's guidance, there could be good times ahead for him.
More importantly, it would give Mahdi Ali another option as he prepares the team for the West Asian Championships, scheduled to be held in Kuwait from December 8 to 20, and the Gulf Cup, which will be held in Bahrain from January 5 to 18.
The UAE national team has suffered from a lack of strikers for a long time. Bruno Metsu, Dominique Bathenay and Srecko Katanec have all lamented on this issue without finding any solutions. Remedying it will be at the top of Mahdi Ali's list.
He has just started and will definitely need time. But the issue cannot be ignored for long. If the situation continues, the UAE will continue to impress fans and pundits alike - like they did at the Asian Cup, the Olympics and in Japan last week - but sadly, they will keep returning home empty-handed, with nothing to show for their performances.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
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Biog:
Age: 34
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite sport: anything extreme
Favourite person: Muhammad Ali
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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.”
The specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 849Nm
Range: 456km
Price: from Dh437,900
On sale: now
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')
Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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Scoreline:
Barcelona 2
Suarez 85', Messi 86'
Atletico Madrid 0
Red card: Diego Costa 28' (Atletico)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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