AL AIN // The UAE’s champions find themselves in unfamiliar environs.
Al Ain last night for the first time played host at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, the country’s impressive new arena, yet instead of the scheduled encounter with Manchester City, they were embroiled in an ultimately frustrating mid-table Arabian Gulf League clash against Al Dhafra.
Having coasted to the two most recent top-flight titles, Al Ain are firmly planted between the battle at the division’s summit and the scrap at its base. A new home was supposed to provide the stimulus to a late-season growth spurt, but familiar failings ensured the housewarming proved a sizeable anticlimax.
What began with ticker tape, balloons and bombast, concluded as a damp squib.
“We’re disappointed, of course, because this was like a party for the club,” said Quique Sanchez Flores, the coach, after his side let slip a slender advantage to draw 1-1. “The most important thing is the fans come to support the team and so it’s very important to put a team on the pitch that’s able to play football and create emotion in the stands.
“It’s not good if they come to celebrate the inauguration of the stadium and they see a team without spirit. We had that; the players run so much, fight so much from the first minute to the last. I know the fans aren’t happy because we drew, but we created lots of attempts. Some day the luck will change.”
Good fortune deserted Al Ain right at the death. The hosts had wasted numerous opportunities – Ismail Ahmed finally took one in the 75th minute before it was quickly cancelled by Dhafra’s Makhete Diop – but they thought a fairy-tale ending was ensured when Ahmed headed home in injury time.
However, the referee’s assistant flagged for offside, although replays showed the goal should have stood. Rightly, Al Ain felt aggrieved come the final whistle.
“We never speak about the referees, but today I have to,” Sanchez Flores said. “This year, we should have had two or three penalties – two against Ajman, one against Sharjah, one against Al Shabab – and then this decision.
“It’s working against the players and the fans, and playing with the spirit of the day, because the spirit was at its highest with the opening of the new stadium. We wanted to end in a positive way.”
The negativity, from this result to Al Ain’s present position, is understandable. Comfortably the country’s finest team of the past two seasons, the 2013/14 campaign has lurched from one crisis to the next. For Sanchez Flores, the term must not become a write-off.
“We have amazing players,” he said. “We accept the situation, but have a responsibly to continue working hard.
“Now we think about the President’s Cup semi-final” against Al Nasr next week.
“It’s a new challenge for us and we need to recuperate the players’ mentality. It’s easy for their morale to drop because they drew a match they deserved to win. It’s hard for the players, but we must be focused.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
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TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
EXPATS
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
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Torque: 175Nm
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
