The Netherlands have a new captain and a new manager but not a new start. Third in last year’s World Cup and third in Group A of Euro 2016 qualifying, they have veered quickly from admirable success story to embarrassing failures.
As a landmark victory in Amsterdam on Thursday put Iceland on the brink of making history, the Dutch are threatened with ignominy.
A change in the dugout brought no change in fortune. After the end of Guus Hiddink’s dreadful second spell in charge, forming an undignified coda to an outstanding managerial career, his assistant-turned-successor Danny Blind has made the least auspicious of starts as they were beaten 1-0 by Iceland on Thursday.
While Robin van Persie lost both the captaincy and his place in the team, Arjen Robben’s first appearance with the armband lasted less than 30 minutes due to a calf injury.
A miserable night for Blind was summed up as Bruno Martins Indi was sent off for catching Kolbeinn Sigthorsson with a flailing arm in the first half, and Gregory van der Wiel’s reckless challenge giving away the penalty, converted by Gylfi Sigurdsson that won the game for the Icelanders.
Remarkably, the Netherlands now trail Iceland by eight points. Iceland have never qualified for a major tournament, but with group laggards Kazakhstan visiting Reykjavik tomorrow, they could book their place in France with two games to go. Lars Lagerback and Heimir Hallgrimsson’s charges are on the brink of an astonishing feat for a country of just 320,000 people.
This, by Icelandic standards, is very much a golden generation, but their starting 11 still contained players from Cardiff City and Charlton Athletic, Viking Stavanger and Hammarby, Odense and NEC Breda.
They represent the antithesis of the Netherlands, forming a side that is greater than the sum of its parts.
There is a sense of purpose about the committed Icelanders. The unity in their camp is epitomised by the presence of joint managers, Lagerback a Swede and Hallgrimsson an Icelander, separated by almost 20 years but combining wonderfully.
The Dutch, in contrast, are providing reminders of the self-destructive streak that has proved their undoing in the past.
An increasingly wretched qualification campaign may not yield even a play-off place. The expansion of the European Championships to 24 nations seemed designed to offer hope to infrequent qualifiers, rather than outsiders such as Iceland.
It might not even provide a reprieve to underachievers such as the Netherlands. They are now six points behind second-place Czech Republic, with the top two sides qualifying automatically, and if Dutch lose to Turkey tomorrow they will drop out of third and the play-off spot.
It is both unthinkable and all too feasible. Their plight is improbable and, from watching them, all too understandable. The Netherlands have three games to rescue themselves. They are showing too few signs they have the mettle to respond.
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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