ABU DHABI // Al Jazira and Al Wahda go into Sunday night’s Abu Dhabi derby desperately needing a win, albeit for different reasons.
For Eric Gerets, the Jazira coach, a victory would keep his side in the Arabian Gulf League title hunt behind Al Ain, who are seven points clear after a 2-1 win over Al Nasr on Saturday night.
But for Wahda and coach Sami Al Jaber, three points would help them get over their embarrassing away defeat to Fujairah last week.
Add to that the importance of local bragging rights for another season and there is plenty at stake.
“A derby match has always provided that little bit of special feeling for the players as well as the technical staff, so we trained with this game in mind,” Gerets said ahead of the short trip to Al Nahyan Stadium.
“But more importantly, we know that if we can win this game we still have a chance to stay in the title race.”
“We will try to win all the points that we have to win anyway to stay in the title hope, and of course hope Al Ain will drop some from their games. But what’s important is our next game against Wahda.”
Gerets has injury concerns regarding two key players, but Mirko Vucinic, the leading scorer in the league with 23 goals, and midfielder Abdulla Mousa are expected to be in the line-up after joining the training for two days.
“They were recovering from a few knocks and now seem to be all right to resume playing,” Gerets said.
“Khamis Ismail (the UAE international) has been out for a long time (after a ruptured thigh muscle against Dhafra on February 21), but I don’t want to rush him.
“He is hungry to return, but after consulting the medical staff, we have told him he needs more time. For me, his future is more important than playing him in one or two games.”
Jazira have done well to win their three games since a pair of 2-1 losses, a surprise defeat to Al Dhafra at home on February 21 and falling at Al Ain on March 8.
Gerets said he was not happy with his team’s performance against last-place Kalba despite a 3-0 home win last week.
“That was one of the worst games we played,” he said.
“We created fewer chances yet scored three unanswered goals, which is a positive we can take.
“This happens in football. You can’t play at the same level all through the season, and in a derby you never can get any easy points. So we have to fight hard and they (Wahda) would want to avenge their defeat in Fujairah.”
With one win and a draw in six games since taking charge of Wahda in early February, Al Jaber has a daunting task to get his struggling side back on the winning trail.
“I have told my players to forget the last game and to just go out there and enjoy the big occasion,” the former Saudi Arabia international said.
“Jazira are a good team, but we are not far behind them.
“We can match them in every line, and on our day we can achieve a good result.
“Hopefully it may be this game.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
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.
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
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- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
THE DETAILS
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Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson
3/5
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F1 The Movie
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Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Rating: 3/5
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
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Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 5
Keita 1', Mane 23', 66', Salah 45' 1, 83'
Huddersfield 0
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
The five pillars of Islam
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
