MUSCAT // Saudi Arabia will face the hosts Oman in Saturday's final of the Gulf Cup after securing a 1-0 victory over nine times champions Kuwait in last night's second semi-final at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
The Saudis were the favourites going into the last-four clash and advanced thanks to a 64th minute goal from Ahmed al Furaidi after good build up play from Tayseer al Jassim.
Nasser al Johar's men were made to earn their place in the weekend's showpiece match after comfortable victories over Yemen and the UAE in their previous matches.
Nevertheless, the result was enough to set up a mouth watering clash with Oman, who are looking for their first ever regional crown after reaching the final in the last two competitions.
Claude Le Roy's men will also be hoping history can repeat itself with Qatar and the UAE winning the last two Gulf Cup titles as hosts.
Saudi Arabia had the better of the exchanges throughout the game and they were unlucky when Ahmed Utaif's rocket in the 18th minute crashed against the crossbar after a faint touch from the goalkeeper Nawaf al Kaldi.
Abdulla Jamaan wasted a chance from inside the box and Abdulla al Dossari's shot was tipped over the bar by al Kaldi as Kuwait just about survived the first half onslaught.
Kuwait had a golden opportunity to go ahead just past the hour-mark, but Mesaad al Enzi blasted over the crossbar. It proved a costly miss as the Saudis moved the ball quickly up the other end to score.
The Kuwait coach Mohammed Ibrahim made a double change in a bid to bring more attacking options to his side with Walid Juma and Ali al Maqsid, but it made little difference against a solid Saudi defence, who are yet to concede a goal.
A feat only matched by Saturday's final opponents Oman.
apassela@thenational.ae
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The biog
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From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
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THE SPECS
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
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
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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