A round of applause greeted Pepe, the veteran central defender, when he joined his Portugal teammates on Sunday. It was mostly respectful, and a little light-hearted. “The king is back!” shouted Cristiano Ronaldo to the one of the few players to whom Ronaldo has to look up in the national team’s hierarchy, at least when it comes to age and endurance.
Pepe, ruled out of action until the weekend because of Covid, turned 39 last month, two-and-half-weeks after Ronaldo celebrated his 37th birthday, and two months after Jose Fonte, Pepe’s fellow centre-half, turned 38.
There’s quite a collection of players in line to face North Macedonia in Porto on Tuesday evening who need no further reminding of what is at stake. Lose and Portugal will not be at the 2022 World Cup. Suffer the same fate as befell Italy against the Macedonians last Thursday and Pepe, Fonte and Ronaldo will almost certainly have said farewell to playing in a World Cup ever again.
Portugal’s map of their route to Qatar 2022 looked very different a year ago. When they travelled to Serbia in their qualifying group, they did so confident that the leadership of that group would be consolidated. Two Diogo Jota goals in Belgrade gave them a comfortable half-time lead over the Serbs.
Then the campaign buckled. Serbia scored twice. In the closing moments Ronaldo struck back, the comeback king that he is, and was celebrating what he assumed was his 103rd international goal when he noted the assistant referee had raised his flag for an offside. The official was mistaken, as television replays proved. Unfortunately for the Portuguese, there was no VAR in operation. The scoreline stayed at 2-2.
That refereeing error would have repercussions. In the last minute of the last qualifying fixture in the group, in Lisbon, Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic completed a stirring comeback. Serbia had trailed 1-0 in the game to decide who snatched the automatic qualification berth at the top of Group A. Mitrovic’s goal made it 2-1 to the visitors, and pushed Portugal into second place.
They fully expected to have to overcome Italy in their play-off final. The stunning 1-0 victory for North Macedonia over the Azzurri in Palermo in last week’s semi-final challenged their – and almost everybody else’s - predictions.
Portugal’s semi-final, against Turkey in Porto, did not entirely go as mapped out, either. As in Belgrade, they swept to a 2-0 half-time lead. Burak Yilmaz then halved it, and would have erased it had he converted a penalty given away by Fonte. A third, late Portuguese goal sealed a scoreline that camouflaged the second-half anxiety.
Turkey are 39th in Fifa’s world rankings. You have to scroll all the way down to 67th to find North Macedonia. That’s 59 places beneath Portugal, but even further from sixth-ranked Italy, the reigning European champions. And these minnows have bitten big fish before. Twelve months ago the Macedonians defeated Germany in Duisburg in a group-stage qualifier.
Ronaldo acknowledged this was not the play-off final he had anticipated. “It was a surprise,” he said of learning on Thursday, that Italy had been eliminated thanks to Aleksandar Trajkovski’s stoppage time strike in Sicily, “but they have done that in a few games.”
Ronaldo and Pepe have been around long enough they can remember a frustrating evening in Skopje and a display of resolute Macedonian defending that kept the Portugal of 2012 goalless the last – and only – time these two countries met.
The Macedonian method against Italy was based around containment and very occasional counter-attack. When Trajkovski latched on to a long ball that Italy had failed to clear, he fired in only his team’s fourth shot at goal for the entire semi-final. Italy racked up more than 30 unsuccessful attempts at the other end.
“We know they are very well organised,” said Ronaldo of North Macedonia, “and we know what their strong points are, but at the same time if we are at our best, we can beat any side in the world.”
As for the personal stakes, a fifth expedition to a World Cup and probably his last, Ronaldo acknowledged the importance of tonight, but not that defeat would necessarily put a full stop on his World Cup career. He will be 41 by the time of the 2026 tournament.
“I’m starting to hear the question [if this would be my last World Cup] quite a lot,” he said. “As long I’m enjoying playing, I will keep playing. When I’m not enjoying it, I will stop. But it will be me who decides when.”
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Company%20profile
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
Match info
Premier League
Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)
