From Al Ain to a fourth major international football tournament, with a World Cup runners-up finish and a third place, too, in between.
It represents a route so remarkable that it bears reminding.
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic spent three years as Al Ain manager from 2014, guiding the UAE club back to the summit of domestic football – he won the President’s Cup in his first season, the UAE league title the next – and to within a penalty kick of clinching the 2016 Asian Champions League.
Little more than a year and a half later, Dalic was on the touchline in Moscow as Croatia fell 4-2 to France in the 2018 World Cup final. An underdog coach had led an underdog side to its best finish at a global finals.
In 2022, and with countryman Dalic still at the helm, a ceaseless Croatia finally ran out of legs in the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar, although they recharged enough to defeat Morocco in the play-off for third. Experiencing his first job in senior international football, Dalic had a World Cup bronze to go with the silver, and an already extraordinary CV had another out-of-the-ordinary entry.
Now, Dalic will bid to usher Croatia beyond the quarter-finals of a European Championship for the first time in the country’s history – they fell at the last-16 stage in the past two editions – beginning with progression from a Euro 2024 Group B in Germany that contains defending champions Italy, three-time winners Spain, and Albania. They kick off their campaign on Saturday, against Spain in Berlin.
If Croatia are often labelled perennial overachievers, then Dalic is the perfect man to plot their path. He arrived at Al Ain in January 2014 as a relative unknown after modest stints in Saudi Arabia with Al Faisaly and Al Hilal. Initially, and with Spaniard Quique Sanchez Flores in the dugout, Dalic was announced as the club’s new “technical supervisor”.
A few days later, Sanchez Flores was gone, with Dalic his successor. The ensuing three years as manager were considered a success, although Dalic rarely got significant credit. Al Ain, UAE champions in successive seasons before he was appointed, were expected to thrive – boasting some of the finest Emirati and foreign talent, they were set up to – while Dalic was deemed for the most part too passive on the touchline.
Yet that disposition disguised his tactical acumen and man management; most probably, the latter is a quality that has brought the best out of this Croatia side – even if, in Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic, a country of 3.8 million can showcase a midfield of elite expertise and experience.
Yet few would have anticipated Dalic would last this long. Indeed, he enters the Euros as the tournament's third-longest serving manager, while last year he extended his contract through until the 2026 World Cup. In Croatia, and testament to all he has achieved, he is hugely popular.
It marks an incredible turnaround in profile. When Dalic was installed in October 2017, nine-and-a-bit months after his Al Ain departure, he was far from first choice to replace Ante Cacic. At the time, he had two days to rescue Croatia’s World Cup qualification.
But that he did: Croatia defeated Ukraine to finish second in their group and advance to the play-offs. There, they saw off Greece across two legs and a place in Russia was theirs. Since, Dalic has never looked back.
Except, in another sense, he has. The Bosnia-born coach has continually credited Al Ain for where he is now.
“I learnt at Al Ain where every week I was under pressure, from the fans, from the club, from everyone," Dalic told The National upon his appointment with Croatia in October 2017. "I learnt everything the last three years at Al Ain. Al Ain helped me get to this point."
At the 2018 World Cup, the enduring affinity to the UAE remained clear.
“I get so many messages,” Dalic told The National. “I cannot reply to them all. But so much support from Croatia and from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It really gives me the strength to achieve something with my team.
"So many from Al Ain, where I spent three years, and they helped me make my name. They gave me an important job, the experience, the support – money also, of course – but with them I built my reputation. I keep them forever in my heart. And I can feel them at my back.”
Now 57, Dalic has kept in touch with numerous friends and former colleagues in the Emirates. This next month, there are sure to be more messages of encouragement, or perhaps even congratulations, as the former defensive midfielder without an international cap attempts to mastermind another momentous major-tournament tilt.
In his own words “forever Ainawi”, the seeds of Dalic’s managerial bloom were really sown in the Garden City.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
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.
The years Ramadan fell in May
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
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The specs
Price, base: Dh228,000 / Dh232,000 (est)
Engine: 5.7-litre Hemi V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 552Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.5L / 100km
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Punchy appearance
Roars of support buoyed Mr Johnson in an extremely confident and combative appearance
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
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