The UAE’s new manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Photo: UAEFA
The UAE’s new manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Photo: UAEFA
The UAE’s new manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Photo: UAEFA
The UAE’s new manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena. Photo: UAEFA

Rodolfo Arruabarrena names provisional UAE squad for 2022 World Cup qualification finale


John McAuley
  • English
  • Arabic

New UAE manager Rodolfo Arruabarrena has named his first squad ahead of this month's conclusion to the 2022 World Cup qualification group stage.

The Argentine, appointed last month as successor to Bert van Marwijk, provided an extended squad for the qualifying double-header against Iraq in Baghdad on March 24 and South Korea in Dubai five days later.

With two matches remaining, the UAE sit third in Group A and therefore in pole position to secure its play-off spot. Iran and South Korea have already sealed the top two places that guarantee direct entry to the Qatar tournament.

Arruabarrena’s initial 41-man squad features a number of hugely experienced players, with goalkeepers Majed Nasser and Khalid Essa returning to the set-up, alongside veteran attacking midfielder Ismail Matar.

Meanwhile, Ali Mabkhout, the UAE’s all-time leading goalscorer, who missed the two most recent qualifiers, is again available. However, influential forward Fabio De Lima will be absent once more as he continues his recovery from injury.

The final squad will be named following the completion of Round 19 of the Adnoc Pro League on Saturday, with the majority of the group to then gather in Dubai on Monday. Those players selected from Sharjah and Baniyas will join up with the team following their Asian Champions League play-offs early next week. The UAE will train at Al Nasr’s Al Maktoum Stadium before leaving for Baghdad on March 22.

Should the national team finish third in Group A, they would enter a play-off against the third-placed side in Group B – currently Australia – with the winner of that then progressing to the intercontinental play-off for a World Cup berth.

At present, the UAE are three points above Lebanon in fourth, with fifth-placed Iraq one point further back. The national team have only once previously appeared at a World Cup, in 1990.

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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.

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Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:

1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.

2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.

3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.

4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.

5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.

World Cup warm up matches

May 24 Pakistan v Afghanistan, Bristol; Sri Lanka v South Africa, Cardiff

May 25 England v Australia, Southampton; India v New Zealand, The Oval

May 26 South Africa v West Indies, Bristol; Pakistan v Bangladesh, Cardiff

May 27 Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton; England v Afghanistan, The Oval

May 28 West Indies v New Zealand, Bristol; Bangladesh v India, Cardiff

Updated: March 09, 2022, 2:16 PM`