Ahead of the start to the 2015/16 Arabian Gulf League season, The National will preview the fortunes for each of the UAE's 14 top-flight clubs. Here, Paul Oberjuerge looks at last season's cup double winners, Al Nasr.
Outlook
The nation’s oldest club are coming off their best season in more than two decades. They ended a 25-year domestic-trophy drought by capturing the Arabian Gulf Cup in January, then topped that by beating Al Ahli in a shoot-out to win the President’s Cup in June, as Nasr fans wept in joy at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
The Dubai side added a fifth-place finish in the league, one slot short of a chance to qualifying for group play in the Asian Champions League.
The accomplishments were a tribute to the organisational skills of Ivan Jovanovic, the Serbian coach who in 2012 led Apoel of Cyprus to the final eight of the Uefa Champions League.
Nasr fans will be trusting to the instincts of Jovanovic and club officials after the club changed out three of their four expatriates. The tempestuous forward Ibrahima Toure, the league’s second-leading scorer, was exiled and forward Pablo Hernandez and midfielder Brett Holman, the team’s spiritual leader, were released.
The club believe they have improved themselves by recruiting Nilmar, a former Brazil international striker, and two men who have proven themselves in the league, the former Al Ahli No 10 Luis Jimenez and the former Al Jazira winger Jonathan Pitroipa.
The club retained two important Emirati players, the compact midfielder Tariq Ahmed, now the club captain, and the goalkeeper Ahmed Shambieh, who has at times been invited to join the national team.
Foreign quartet
Renan Garcia: The Brazilian defender, 29, appeared in every league match for Nasr last season and was a steady presence in the middle of the pitch. He had a rough time in the Super Cup, but Jovanovic will expect better going forward.
Luis Jimenez: He scored 13 goals in his debut season with Ahli, but fell off to six last season. He seems to be playing deeper with Nasr, and will take free kicks around the goal.
Nilmar: He has the credentials – Villarreal, Lyon, Internacional in his native Brazil – and goals at every stop, including eight in 23 matches for his national side. He is not a target man, as Toure and Luca Toni were for Nasr, and he may need time to find himself.
Jonathan Pitroipa: The speedy winger had good moments with Jazira, and he seemed comfortable in the Super Cup match last week. He is best at driving up the right flank and crossing to more dependable scorers.
Key Emirati players
That Tariq Ahmed has not been a member of Mahdi Ali’s national team is a bit of a mystery; the bustling midfielder wins the ball and distributes it well. Ahmed Shambieh is a solid goalkeeper, and midfielder Jamaal Maroof showed he knows how to finish when he scored in the Super Cup. Ahmed Ibrahim and Esam Dhahi have been usually dependable fixtures in the back four.
Manager
Ivan Jovanovic, the white-haired, 53-year-old Serb, played 20 years as a midfielder in Serbia and Greece, and has coached mostly in Greece and Cyprus before Nasr brought him in two years ago. He will need to show his side can score without the target man Toure presented, as well as integrate the new men into the side.
The National verdict
Is this a team on the rise, or was 2014/15 a fluke season for a club without the spending power of opponents like Al Ahli, Al Ain and Al Jazira? Much depends on Nilmar, a proven scorer who seemed lost in the Super Cup. A successful season for Nasr will end with a top-four finish; if things go a little sidewise, they could drift down in the table.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE BIO
Age: 33
Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill
Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.
Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?
Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in
ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
%3Cp%3ECreator%3A%20Tima%20Shomali%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0Tara%20Abboud%2C%C2%A0Kira%20Yaghnam%2C%20Tara%20Atalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Milkman by Anna Burns
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeline Miller
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
