The UAE will resume their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign next March after the Asian Football Confederation approved the new dates on Wednesday.
The second round of qualification was postponed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the rescheduled fixtures, slated for September and October, again pushed back in August. That qualification round was originally to conclude this month.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Competitions Committee have now agreed that Stage 2 should be completed by June 15, with Match Day 7 and 8 taking place in March, and Match Day 9 and 10 in June. The final round is then to begin the following September and completed by March 2022, while the Asian and Intercontinental play-offs are proposed for that May or June. The Fifa World Cup will be staged in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.
Currently, the UAE sit fourth in the five-team Group G, five points off leaders Vietnam, although they do have a game in hand over each of their rivals. The national team still have to play Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam at home, and Indonesia away.
The top team in each of the eight groups and the four best runners-up will advance to the third stage of qualifying. The UAE have only once previously appeared at a World Cup, in 1990.
At present, the national team are managed by Colombian Jorge Luis Pinto, who was appointed in July. The squad have been training this week in Dubai ahead of a friendly double-header against Tajikistan, on Thursday, and Bahrain, on Monday.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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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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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
FIXTURES
Saturday
5.30pm: Shabab Al Ahli v Al Wahda
5.30pm: Khorfakkan v Baniyas
8.15pm: Hatta v Ajman
8.15pm: Sharjah v Al Ain
Sunday
5.30pm: Kalba v Al Jazira
5.30pm: Fujairah v Al Dhafra
8.15pm: Al Nasr v Al Wasl
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
