Javier Aguirre, Japan’s Mexican manager, enjoys telling friends that he has been in top-level football as a player and coach for 35 of his 56 years.
Since breaking into Club America’s first team in 1979, the midfielder and 59-time Mexican international played in Spain, the United States and Mexico.
He retired in 1993 but was a coach within two years.
Within five years he was Mexico manager, the first of two stints in charge, both involving the World Cup finals.
He also managed with distinction at Osasuna, leading them to a first Uefa Champions League appearance.
He coached with success but no trophies at Atletico Madrid, Zaragoza and Espanyol, where he oversaw a significant improvement following the departure of Mauricio Pochettino in 2012.
Aguirre would seem to have an unquenched appetite for football, but he prefers baseball. He says he was not good enough for the stick-and-ball game, but he still supports the Oakland Athletics.
“Javier also tells people that his wife is more interested in football,” says Manolo Marquez, a Spanish coach who worked with him at Espanyol until last year.
“Javier is just a very good football coach. He’s a cultured man, fluent in English and Spanish. He’s well read and has varied interests outside football.”
What makes him a successful coach?
“It’s all about the group with him,” Marquez says. “Players want to play for him, want to confide in him.
“He’s like a father, and they warm to him because he’s smart, ironic and funny. He’s also stable. He has an image of using strong language with journalists and referees, but his methods work.
“He insists that your average player has the ball for only two minutes a game, so the most important thing is to work on the other 88 – like fitness.
“He’s had the same fitness trainer at every club since Osasuna.”
Aguirre’s motivational techniques are well-known, and he uses a range of tactics to engage with players.
In one case at Zaragoza, he surreptitiously called all his players’ wives and got them to record a message, which he played back in the dressing room ahead of a vital match against Real Madrid.
They won that game at the Bernabeu and avoided relegation, a remarkable turnaround, for he had arrived at the Romareda in November 2010 when his side were seven points away from safety.
Zaragoza were desperate, in debt and did not pay his wages on time, but using youth team star Ander Herrera, now at Manchester United, he led them to safety – though not without controversy.
The Mexican, who has Basque parentage, is one of 41 people who are being questioned about a 2011 match-fixing incident in a game between Real Zaragoza and Levante.
Aguirre’s side won the game 2-1 to secure their Primera Liga status, but the game was subsequently one of nine to be investigated by the Spanish league.
He denies any involvement, saying: “I worked in Spain for 12 years and I have never done anything unethical or unprofessional. The only thing you need to win is effort.
“I don’t give anyone presents and I don’t go looking for any. I will cooperate fully with the prosecutors and defend myself until the end.
“The players involved in the match are still playing every weekend and the Zaragoza directors are still doing their jobs. The referee from that match is still blowing his whistle.
“Why shouldn’t I be allowed to carry on with my job? I am innocent until proven guilty and I have the right to work.”
Aguirre is adamant that the inquiry will not affect his current work, and leading Japan players have defended their manager.
“He has said he didn’t do it, so he didn’t do it,” says Japan’s most-capped player, Yasuhito Endo.
"We have to believe what the coach has told us and follow his lead," Shinji Kagawa says.
Aguirre has been in charge since July, following Japan’s poor World Cup showing in Brazil, where they scored twice and drew once in three matches and were eliminated at the group stage.
Japan have shown excellent form in post-World Cup friendly games, and their manager says that Japan "have everything we need to win" in the 2015 Asian Cup.
The most successful team in the tournament’s history with four championships, Japan, who beat the 2015 hosts Australia in the 2011 final and also in a recent friendly, begin their campaign against Palestine in Newcastle next Monday.
They then face Iraq in Brisbane on January 16 and Jordan in their final group game in Melbourne four days later.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE BIO
Age: 33
Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill
Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.
Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?
Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in
ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
%3Cp%3ECreator%3A%20Tima%20Shomali%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%C2%A0Tara%20Abboud%2C%C2%A0Kira%20Yaghnam%2C%20Tara%20Atalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Milkman by Anna Burns
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeline Miller
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
