ABU DHABI // Mahdi Ali will be missing his most successful attacking duo when his side face Hong Kong on Friday night in an Asian Cup qualifier. Three points will confirm the UAE’s place in the final, in Australia, in 2015.
Ali Mabkhout, who scored a hat-trick against Hong Kong, serves a one-match ban for three yellow cards, and Ahmed Khalil is doubtful to start as he has had only two days in training after returning from an injury.
“I don’t usually speak about the line-up before a match but … we may have to look for other options,” the UAE coach said yesterday.
Mahdi Ali used the Al Wahda pairing of Ismail Matar and Salem Saleh for more than 70 minutes against Philippines in a friendly at the Al Nahyan Stadium last Friday, and each scored a goal in a 4-0 victory.
“They have a good understanding between them as club mates and they did a good job for us against the Philippines. They can be a good option in the attack in this game,” the Emirati manager said.
Al Jazira’s Mabkhout has four goals and Al Ahli’s Khalil two from the eight scored by the UAE in the three Asian Cup matches, all victories, which have propelled them to the top of Group E on nine points.
They meet Hong Kong at the Mohammed bin Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi, having defeated the east Asians 4-0 away in their meeting on October 15.
“Hong Kong are a good team and have played their away games better than at home. We have prepared well and are ready for them,” Mahdi Ali said.
He chose a warm-up game against the Philippines as he believed they would play similar styles. Kim Pan-gon, Hong Kong’s Korean coach, said they would adopt a defensive strategy tonight.
“We will to try our best to return with one point with strong defending against the UAE,” he said.
“It was a painful experience last time when we lost 4-0. However, after doing an analysis of the last game, I thought we still did well, apart from conceding the goals, and two of those goals were scored in added time.
“We made several mistakes in that game. Our focus since then has been to correct those mistakes. In our home game we tried too hard to score against the UAE but this time we will try to defend more and use the counterattack.”
Hong Kong arrived without playing any warm-up matches as the players were involved in domestic league action.
“We had only the regular team one day in the week for training but I believe my players are in good shape. We respect the UAE but we are not scared to play them,” Kim said.
Hong Kong are third in the group, level on four points with Uzbekistan, whom they meet at home four days later. They trail the Uzbeks by four in goal difference.
Huang Yang, the captain, said they have something to prove after the first meeting against the UAE.
“As a player you just concentrate on the game and give your best,” the midfielder said.
“There are lots of skilful players in the UAE team but we would like to challenge them. We have come here physically and mentally stronger to prove we are a better team.”
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Bahrain and Saudi Arabia one win away from advancing
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain could book their 2015 Asian Cup place on Friday night.
Like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the three-time winners, have a perfect record, and a win at home to Iraq would put them clear of China and Indonesia in Group C.
Bahrain, meanwhile, could also seal their spot amongst the 16 qualifiers with victory over Malaysia after drawing with the south-east Asian side when the teams last met in Kuala Lumpur, in October.
They lead Group D by a point from Qatar, who meet Yemen in the group’s other game.
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Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
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Toss: India, opted to field
Australia 158-4 (17 ov)
Maxwell 46, Lynn 37; Kuldeep 2-24
India 169-7 (17 ov)
Dhawan 76, Karthik 30; Zampa 2-22
Result: Australia won by 4 runs by D/L method
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
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