Jose Peseiro is having to deal with fitness concerns in his team. Ravindranath K / The National
Jose Peseiro is having to deal with fitness concerns in his team. Ravindranath K / The National

No home comfort for injury-marred Al Wahda in Arabian Gulf Cup



Jose Peseiro is hoping his injury-ravaged Al Wahda team can lift themselves up for Tuesday night’s clash against Sharjah to keep their hopes of making it to the knockout stages of the Arabian Gulf Cup.

Sharjah are sitting at the top of Group B with seven points from three matches and will arrive in Abu Dhabi high on confidence after a 4-1 win over defending champions Al Ahli last week.

Wahda have only one point from two matches following a loss to Ahli in their opening match and a 2-2 draw at Dhafra last week.

They have four matches to turn around their fortunes, but with six of their players on international duty, Peseiro is short of options.

To make matters worse for the Portuguese, seven of his players – Essa Abullah, Khalid Jalal, Mohammed Abdulbasit, Salem Saleh, Mohammed Saif, Mubarak Al Mansouri and Adil Hermach – are injured, while Hamdan Al Kamali has just resumed training after recovering from an injury.

“It is a difficult time, but we have to fight to get three points from this match in order to maintain our chances of qualifying from this group,” Peseiro said.

“We know Sharjah are a good team and managed to hold us to a draw at home [in the fourth round of the AGL].

“So we will have to work really hard, and I hope we can play a really big game to win this match.”

Cosmin Olaroiu, the Ahli coach, will be looking for a similar response from his players after their drubbing at Sharjah when they host Emirates, while in Group A leaders Al Shabab will travel to second-placed Al Nasr on Wednesday, looking for the three points that should confirm their spot in the last four.

“We are not assured of a place in the semi-finals yet,” said Caio Junior, the Shabab coach, whose team are three points clear of Nasr with three wins from as many games.

“We still need three more points from our remaining three matches and I hope we can get those points at the ­earliest.”

arizvi@thenational.ae

Follow our sports coverage on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE

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

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Where to submit a sample

Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain

Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)

  • Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave. 
  • Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
  • Help out around the house.
  • Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
  • Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
  • Offer to strip the bed before you go.
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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SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

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The biog

Name: Shamsa Hassan Safar

Nationality: Emirati

Education: Degree in emergency medical services at Higher Colleges of Technology

Favourite book: Between two hearts- Arabic novels

Favourite music: Mohammed Abdu and modern Arabic songs

Favourite way to spend time off: Family visits and spending time with friends

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
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  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

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The biog

Name: Salem Alkarbi

Age: 32

Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira

First started supporting Al Wasl: 7

Biggest rival: Al Nasr