BANIYAS // Battered, tired, ripe for the taking, Al Jazira showed the mettle of champions last night. With two of their South American stalwarts out of the match, weary from their emotional President's Cup victory four days before, the Pro League leaders salvaged a 1-1 draw when Juma Abdullah scored in the third minute of extra time.
Jazira did not get the knock-out blow they could have landed with a victory, but after their Argentine midfielder Matias Delgado went out with an injury and Bare, their Brazilian striker, sat down at half-time, they had to be ecstatic to take a point and remain unbeaten with six rounds left in the season.
What had looked like a huge victory for Baniyas, one that would have reopened the chase, instead left the rising Abu Dhabi side 10 points behind Jazira. The home side have all of their best players back after two months of struggling, and seemed inspired by the appointment of the Emirati Mahdi Ali as coach. And they were seconds from pinning the first defeat of the season on Jazira.
With Baniyas playing a man short after Amer Abdulrahman took a brainless red card in the 75th minute, Jazira threw everyone forward. The substitute Ahmed Juma carried the ball up the right and crossed it in the hope that someone in red would reach it.
And there was Abdullah, the lanky veteran, up from his central-defensive position, sliding in to push a shot into the goal, past Mohammed Ghuloom, and bringing Jazira fans in the north stand to their feet.
Baniyas had affirmed their control of the match in the 65th minute, and Theyab Awana, the active young midfielder, bulked large in the goal. He had tormented the Jazira left-back Khalid Sabeal all night, and 25 minutes from time he turned past him on the end line and crossed the ball in front of goal.
Ali Kasheif, Jazira's elite goalkeeper, dove out and pushed the ball away. But it went to Andre Senghor, who managed to retain control as Sami Rabea lunged in desperately. The Senegalese striker took one step left as Kasheif crawled after him and rocketed a point-blank shot into the back of the net, his league-best 15th of the season.
Cue an eruption from the Baniyas supporters among the home crowd of 6,753 on a windy night at the sparkling new stadium.
Baniyas were the better team from the opening kick-off. Not only were they taking shots on goal every few minutes, they did an excellent job of closing down the visitors' attacks before they got started.
Mustafa Kareem is not one of the better-known Baniyas players, but he buzzed around the goal in the first session, and only his inability to finish kept Jazira from trailing at the break. Kareem rolled an 18-yard shot off a rebound just left of goal on the 10th minute. Twenty minutes later, after a fine run up the flank by right-back Saqer Hammadi, Kareem got off a strong, low header off a cross, but Kasheif was there to block it. In the 43rd, he beat the offside trap and went in alone on Kasheif, who smothered a shot at the edge of the box.
Meantime, Baniyas defended with 11. Even Senghor worked from box to box. Jazira seemed surprised and then frustrated by the tactic, and they picked up a pair of cautions, including one on Ricardo Oliveiro for petulantly slamming the ball off the pitch.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
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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
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
Match info
Karnataka Tuskers 110-3
J Charles 35, M Pretorius 1-19, Z Khan 0-16
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Racecard
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
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