Every day over three weeks, The National looks back at the 21 greatest moments in UAE sports history
With 40 minutes of the campaign left on the clock, the UAE’s dreams of a debut football appearance at the Olympics were fading – and fast.
They trailed Uzbekistan 2-0 on a cold and soggy night in Tashkent in March 2012, a defeat extinguishing their chances, another four-year wait nearly foisted upon them.
Then Ahmed Khalil scored two memorable goals in what felt a blink of the eye. The first a side-footed free-kick from 20 yards; the second a first-time rocket of a volley that skirted by the Uzbek goalkeeper. Two-nil down quickly after half time, the visitors had struck in the 51st and 55th minute to level the contest.
From down and out, the UAE had life. They had the draw that would be enough to take Mahdi Ali’s young charges to London. Yet, not content with a point, they sealed their spot with a final flourish, Haboush Saleh clinching a remarkable rallying victory deep into injury-time.
The UAE had topped Group B; a place in London was theirs. To this day, it represents one of the national team’s great comebacks, a win that Mahdi Ali proclaimed afterwards was a game “for history”.
Through the freeze and the fervour, the UAE kept cool to silence a near-majority home crowd and book the country’s first berth at a Summer Olympics. A game for history, indeed.
It felt just reward for four years of endeavour, this collection of tyros shining through the various age groups under Mahdi Ali’s tutelage. Khalil was its spearhead, but behind the robust Al Ahli striker lay the artistry of Omar Abdulrahman and the ingenuity of Amer Abdulrahman. Captain Hamdan Al Kamali often offered a reassuring presence at the back.
Then, by the conclusion of the Olympics, the secret was out: the UAE were one of Asia’s up-and-coming sides. In their Group A opener at Old Trafford, Ismail Matar put his team ahead against a Uruguay side replete with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, only for the UAE to eventually lose 2-1. But the level of their play – intricate, intelligent, with flashes of flamboyance - earned them many plaudits.
The UAE lost 3-1 in their next match, against hosts Team Great Britain at Wembley, despite Rashid Eisa’s equaliser on the hour. Afterwards, Ryan Giggs sought out Omar Abdulrahman to present the UAE playmaker his shirt.
In the side’s final fixture, against Senegal, Matar again opened the scoring before their opponents pegged them back to secure a 1-1 draw. The UAE were off home, but with their reputation firmly on the rise.
A month later, Mahdi Ali was confirmed first-team manager, a position he occupied for most of the next five years. However, while the 2012 Olympics felt the beginning of the UAE’s breakthrough on the global stage, that posse of players has still to reach a World Cup. The Big Wait rumbles on. Back when that six-day celebration of their talent in London settled to memory, that seemed impossible.
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Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT)
Tuesday
Mairobr v Liverpool
Spartak Moscow v Sevilla
Feyenoord v Shakhtar Donetsk
Manchester City v Napoli
Monaco v Besiktas
RB Leipzig v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday
Benfica v Manchester United
CSKA Moscow v Basel
Bayern Munich v Celtic
Anderlecht v Paris Saint-Germain
Qarabag v Atletico Madrid
Chelsea v Roma
Barcelona v Olympiakos
Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
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.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
