Former Chelsea star Didier Drogba kept up his incredible scoring record as Montreal Impact cruised past Toronto FC 3-0 to advance to the conference semi-finals (overall quarter-finals) of the MLS Cup on Thursday.
Drogba bagged his 12th goal in 12 games since signing for Montreal in July after finally calling time on his career with Chelsea in the English Premier League.
The 37-year-old scored Montreal’s third with a straightforward tap-in at the far post on 39 minutes to effectively seal victory in the all-Canada clash.
It capped a superb week for Drogba, who on Wednesday was named the MLS Player of the Month for a second straight month in recognition of his goalscoring form for Impact, whose fortunes have been transformed since his arrival.
Montreal had been battling for a play-off berth when Drogba arrived but made it into the post-season thanks to the Ivorian’s goals.
He had scored twice in for the Impact against Toronto on Sunday, ensuring Montreal finished as third seed in the Eastern Conference.
On Thursday Montreal wasted no time in asserting their superiority over Toronto once more, taking the lead on 18 minutes after a superbly worked counter-attack.
Ignacio Piatti burst clear from deep before releasing Patrice Bernier, who timed his run to perfection to go through on goal.
The veteran Canada international picked his spot before calmly finishing beneath advancing Toronto goalkeeper Chris Konopka.
Piatti doubled the Montreal lead on 33 minutes, gathering the ball on the edge of the area, holding off his marker and firing a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
Victory was all but assured six minutes before half-time when Drogba scored, sweeping home at the back post after Bernier crossed from the right flank.
Steven Gerrard meanwhile called for the Los Angeles Galaxy to toughen up their defence after his debut season in Major League Soccer was brought to an abrupt end with a 3-2 defeat to the Seattle Sounders.
The star-studded defending champions – whose $19.5 million (Dh71.6m) payroll is the second highest in MLS history – were bundled out of the play-offs on Wednesday after an error-strewn performance at CenturyLink Field.
Former Liverpool and England captain Gerrard said the Galaxy's season had come unstuck through a tendency to give away cheap goals to the opposition, placing too high a burden on the team's potent attack.
“For us it just seems like we’ve got to score three or four goals to get over the line to win games, and that’s what we’ve got to analyse over the winter,” said Gerrard, a high-profile signing for the Galaxy in July.
“I know (coach) Bruce (Arena) quite well now having got used to him and I’m sure that’s where he’ll be analysing.
“We’ve got to stop this team conceding goals because we know we’re capable of scoring anywhere in the league.
“I’ve been in this game long enough to know that if you’re going to be successful you can’t keep conceding goals.”
All three of Seattle’s goals on Wednesday came from defensive blunders by the Galaxy, leaving Arena seething with anger after the match.
“Our play in front of our goal defensively was atrocious,” the former United States coach said.
“We just giftwrapped those three goals. Give them credit – they jumped on the mistakes, but we were shockingly poor.
“If you’re going to give away goals like that, you don’t deserve to win, that’s for sure.”
In the other two MLS first round contests, DC United advanced past New England Revolution 2-1 and the Portland Timbers edged Sporting Kansas City 7-6 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
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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.
“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.”
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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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
