Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo gestures during a team training session in Campinas. Mauro Horita / Reuters
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo gestures during a team training session in Campinas. Mauro Horita / Reuters
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo gestures during a team training session in Campinas. Mauro Horita / Reuters
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo gestures during a team training session in Campinas. Mauro Horita / Reuters

Sport

World Cup 2014 round-up: Ronaldo fit for Germany match

In other news, Bayern Munich doctors defend Ribery, and Bosnia prep for Messi.

Agencies

June 14, 2014

  • English
  • Arabic

Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo is “100 per cent” fit and ready for Portugal’s opening World Cup match against the powerful Germans, William Carvalho said yesterday. The Real Madrid star had ice applied to his troublesome left knee after training on Thursday, sparking fears over his fitness ahead of Monday’s Group G opener, but Carvalho said: “I think he’s now 100 per cent fit.” Portugal captain Ronaldo featured in a 5-1 friendly win over the Republic of Ireland this week. He had missed the previous two warm-up games because of thigh and knee injuries.

For more World Cup stories, visit our dedicated microsite – thenational.ae/worldcup.

Click here for a downloadable 2014 World Cup wall chart.

Brazil

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari yesterday gave the players who started in the 3-1 win against Croatia a rest from outdoor training at the Selecao’s base in Teresopolis. The squad returned from Sao Paulo, where Brazil beat the Croats in their Group A opener, on Thursday evening, and only the goalkeepers and substitutes appeared on the training ground at Granja Comary. They took part in a game of beach foot-volleyball in front of a small band of supporters.

France

Bayern Munich hit back at claims made by France’s World Cup doctor that Franck Ribery’s fear of injections had forced him to pull out of the tournament. French team medical chief Franck Le Gall had said Thursday that Ribery, who plays for the German champions and withdrew from the World Cup because of a back injury, could have still made the trip to Brazil. But Bayern doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt “rejected categorically” the allegations in a statement. Bayern also rejected Le Gall’s claim that Ribery was afraid of injections. “The mere fact Ribery returned to Munich after pulling out of the France squad to seek treatment without cortisone and without painkillers further highlights this fact.”

Belgium

Manchester United’s teenage star Adnan Januzaj has given Belgium coach Marc Wilmots a triple selection headache wrapped into a single, welcome dilemma four days out from his team’s World Cup opener with Algeria. Januzaj, 19, may not earn a starting place in the Group H clash at Belo Horizonte, but he did enough in the warm-ups to ensure he should still have a vital role to play in the tournament. In the games against, Luxembourg and Tunisia, Januzaj replaced Chelsea’s Eden Hazard with the teenager demonstrating that he can play on the wing, in the number 10 playmaker role and in a central attacking role. “Pressure? I have played for Manchester United in front of tens of thousands of people without fear. Why would it be a problem for me with the national team,” said Januzaj.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina reached their first World Cup by playing a brazen full-speed-ahead style of football that netted 30 goals in qualifying. Sticking to that strategy in a big-stage premier against Argentina would be bold – some might say foolish. But there is a good chance that is exactly what is in coach Safet Susic’s plans. Even against an Argentina team led by Lionel Messi, there is only so much he is willing to tweak in his game plan. “It is a dilemma for me, but to sacrifice a player just to man-mark Messi, I don’t think it would be good for us,” Safic said. “I don’t think we have ever played a match having dedicated a player to man-mark a specific opponent, and it’s going to be the same,” against Argentina in tomorrow’s Group F opener.

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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.

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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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