Hassan Mohamed, centre, was one of five Al Nasr players to find the net on Wednesday night as the hosts cruised past Al Wasl. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
Hassan Mohamed, centre, was one of five Al Nasr players to find the net on Wednesday night as the hosts cruised past Al Wasl. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Al Nasr show no mercy in lopsided victory over Al Wasl



Al Nasr 6 Al Wasl 1

Al Nasr: Lima pen 5', Luis 20', Holman 25', Mohamed 30', Al Fardan 56', 67'

Al Wasl: Donda 87'

Red card: Yasser Salem (Al Wasl)

Man of the match: Eder Luis (Al Nasr)

DUBAI // On the eve of the Bur Dubai derby, the two managers, both with impressive resumes, had warned that a single lapse, could decide the outcome of the game. They were right.

It was the fourth minute of the game and Hassan Mohammed, playing a deft one-two with Eder Luis on his right, darted into the box and had only the Al Wasl goalkeeper in front of him. A clumsy Yasser Salem decided to wrap his arms around the Nasr striker and dragged him down.

That one incident transformed a game, which had promised much in the opening exchanges, into a 6-1 rout.

Salem was sent off for his indiscretion and Nasr earned a penalty, which Leonardo Lima converted before the hosts went on a rampage, showing no mercy as they made their numerical advantage count.

As the two teams went into the break, Nasr were leading 4-0 with Eder Luis, Brett Holman and Mohammed adding to the tally. Habib Fardan scored twice in the second half to make it a tennis score-line, with Mariano Donda scoring the consolation for Wasl, three minutes from time.

Both managers – Wasl’s Hector Cuper and Nasr’s Ivan Jovanovic – were surprised by the result, one pleasantly and the other not so.

“You never expect such a result in a derby game,” said a delighted, but restrained, Jovanovic. “We are very satisfied that we played a very serious game right through and won this derby game by such a big score. We were better in the field and scored really nice goals.”

For Cuper, who has managed the likes of Valencia and Inter in the past, this was the biggest defeat of his coaching career.

“The worst defeat before this was the one during my time in Argentina and the result then was 5-0,” he said.

The Argentine, however, refused to be disheartened and expressed confidence in the abilities of his players. He did fall on his sword, however.

“I would like to apologise to all the fans who came to support us,” Cuper said. “We know the importance of this game, but we made too many mistakes. Some of them were really childish.

“The red card also made it very difficult for us. Once the first half finished at 4-0, it was very difficult for us to come back. What I will ask the players now is to forget about this game and focus on the future.

“From what I saw in the past two matches, I definitely believe the team is very competitive. They showed great spirit in those two matches and a lot of fight.

“We will just need to work harder to forget what happened tonight. Definitely there will be some emotional baggage from this game, but my job is to help the players get over this.”

Jovanovic’s surprise at the result was understandable. Missing Tariq Ahmed and Ahmed Khamis through suspension, he lost Ibrahima Toure as well due to illness. That meant a start for Hassan Mohammed, and the coach was clearly pleased with his efforts.

“One of the problems we have in the UAE is that all clubs have foreign players playing in attacking position and locals don’t get much of a chance,” the Serbian said. “It is the same with Hassan. He has not played many games, but he works very well in training.

“Unfortunately, he could not play for the whole game, but in the time he spent on the pitch, he played very well and I am very happy for him.

“The last five or six games, we have played at a really good level as a team. We have improved a lot and it is good we can keep our performance at a good level every time we play.”

arizvi@thenational.ae

Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE

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RESULTS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo

Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm

Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Founder: Ayman Badawi

Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Software

Size: Seven employees

Funding: $170,000 in angel investment

Funders: friends

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.”

A Long Way Home by Peter Carey
Faber & Faber

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Six tips to secure your smart home

Most smart home devices are controlled via the owner's smartphone. Therefore, if you are using public wi-fi on your phone, always use a VPN (virtual private network) that offers strong security features and anonymises your internet connection.

Keep your smart home devices’ software up-to-date. Device makers often send regular updates - follow them without fail as they could provide protection from a new security risk.

Use two-factor authentication so that in addition to a password, your identity is authenticated by a second sign-in step like a code sent to your mobile number.

Set up a separate guest network for acquaintances and visitors to ensure the privacy of your IoT devices’ network.

Change the default privacy and security settings of your IoT devices to take extra steps to secure yourself and your home.

Always give your router a unique name, replacing the one generated by the manufacturer, to ensure a hacker cannot ascertain its make or model number.

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Asia Cup Qualifier

Venue: Kuala Lumpur

Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September

Fixtures:

Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore

Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman

Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal

Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore

Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong

Thu Sep 6: Final

 

Asia Cup

Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Schedule: Sep 15-28

Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier