Contesting a second Asian Cup on UAE soil, Saudi Arabia are seeking a similar success. They got off to a convincing start yesterday.
The 1996 champions, the fourth-ranked team on the continent, brushed aside North Korea at a partisan Rashid Stadium in Dubai, triumphing 4-0. At the same time, they sent out a statement of intent to their rivals this month.
Admittedly, North Korea provided little resistance, outplayed and out-thought by Juan Antonio Pizzi’s increasingly slick side. Hope of a positive result long gone, they played the entire second half with 10 men.
Still considered Asian heavyweights, Saudi Arabia’s title win in the UAE 23 years ago was their third Asian crown. Much to their chagrin, it remains their most recent.
However, against a needling North Korea in their Group E opener, they dominated and drove to a comfortable three points. Abdullah Al Otayf betrayed the Rolls Royce midfielder he can do, when the circumstances conspire in his favour.
Salem Al Dawsari, celebrated for scoring the winner this summer in the World Cup clash with Egypt, floated into dangerous areas and cajoled teammates, in his recent role as captain. He capped his evening with a goal.
When needed, keeper Mohammed Al Owais was impervious. Elsewhere, relative newbie Abdulaziz Albishi impressed in the middle.
Saudi’s opener caught the attention, too. They had already gone close before Hatan Bahbri collected the ball on the left in the 28th minute, shimmied past his marker and curled an unstoppable effort beyond Ri Myong-guk in the North Korea goal.
Then, in a two-minute spell, North Korea’s chances disappeared into the Dubai night. First, Han Kwang-song headed woefully off target when unmarked inside the six-yard box. Almost in a flash, at the other end, defender Mohammed Al Fatil applied a cute flick to Mohammed Al Burayk’s whipped free-kick to double Saudi Arabia’s advantage.
One minute before half time, and with head presumably still spinning, Italian-based Han grew frustrated at the Saudis neat interplay. He chopped at the back of Hussein Al Moqahwi. Already on a yellow, Han saw red.
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From there, it felt like damage limitation. Fawad Al Muwallad, leading the Saudi Arabia line alone, somehow curled well wide with the goal at his mercy. The forward had earlier missed another presentable chance, firing straight at Ri. Later, though, he nearly scored with a chipped cross-cum-shot.
By that time, his side were 3-0 up. On 69 minutes, after Al Owais had saved well from Ri Yong-jik’s thumping volley, Al Dawsari grabbed his goal. Creating space expertly in the opposition penalty area, he side-footed casually home.
With three minutes remaining, Al Muwallad got in on the act – finally. The North Korea defence failed to react properly to substitute Hamdan Al Shamrani’s clipped cross, leaving Al Muwallad to control the ball and thrash it into the net.
Saudi Arabia had eased to an opening victory, the one blight on their copybook Yasser Al Shahrani’s late withdrawal through injury. However, irrespective of that, and despite North Korea’s flimsy resilience, Pizzi’s men had laid down a marker.
Back for a second Asian Cup in the UAE, the 1996 champions’ campaign to match that 23-year-old feat has begun well.
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if you go
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Planes grounded by coronavirus
British Airways: Cancels all direct flights to and from mainland China
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific: Cutting capacity to/from mainland China by 50 per cent from Jan. 30
Chicago-based United Airlines: Reducing flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
South Korea's Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air: Suspend all flights
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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SPECS
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Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Company profile
Name: Thndr
Started: October 2020
Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000
Funding stage: series A; $20 million
Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC, Rabacap and MSA Capital
