SAINT PETERSBURG // In the early hours of Saturday morning, a large boat with scarlet sails navigated its way down St Petersburg’s Neva River to the backdrop of fireworks and classical music. It is an annual tradition here that has become the main attraction of the city’s White Nights festival.
As far as metaphors go, it proved prophetic. By the evening, scripted and predicted by the expectant 56,290 spectators who filled the Krestovsky Stadium, the scarlet shirts of Fernando Santos’s Portugal side dominated New Zealand’s All Whites, gliding past them without trouble 4-0 and sailing for a pre-determined destination: the semi-finals.
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Cristiano Ronaldo, who Santos had suggested might be rested, even provided the fireworks. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner enjoyed warm applause every time he touched the ball, came close to breaking the deadlock when his header cannoned back off the crossbar with Kiwi goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic beaten, and eventually opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
“I am happy to help my team and score the first goal,” Ronaldo said. “It was a difficult pitch and impossible to play better, so we should all be congratulated.”
A Ronaldo goal was all that separated the European champions from hosts Russia earlier this week, but against the Kiwis — a nation ranked 87 places lower in Fifa’s world rankings — his teammates took their chances too.
While New Zealand only has one professional club and the national team is made of players deployed at various levels across the globe, Portugal were able to start with two Champions League winners in Ronaldo and Real Madrid teammate Pepe. And although it was the All Whites who managed the first shot on goal and the Europeans’ opener came from the spot, by the time Bernardo Silva added his country’s second, the gulf in quality was clear.
Manchester City recently paid £43.6m to Monaco for the services of the diminutive winger and the English club’s Abu Dhabi owners will have been watching fearfully when he stayed down clutching his ankle after being clattered by Thomas Doyle while scoring. He did not reappear for the second half.
Another Silva recently on the move added the third. AC Milan paid Porto €38m (Dh156m) earlier this month for striker Andre Silva and he scored a fine solo-effort before Nani, on for Ronaldo after 65 minutes and a round of applause, provided the flourish to the scoreline, smashing past Marinovic in added time.
“The first one was a dubious penalty,” said Kiwi defender Tommy Smith. “We knew they are a good team and maybe we tired near the end to allow them to score a couple more. Conceding four, you can see it was difficult, but I thought before the first goal, we were coping quote well.”
Ronaldo was voted man of the match by the fans, but it was Ricardo Quaresma, formerly of Dubai side Al Ahli in 2013, who proved the key figure at the heart of Portugal’s attacks. Given license to roam across the frontline, he caused problems for the Kiwi defence throughout and was crucially involved in the first three goals.
It was Quaresma’s cross that led to the penalty when Porto midfielder Danilo was bundled over. It was also the Besiktas forward’s clever looped ball over the top that allowed Eliseu to run free and pick out Bernardo Silva. In the 80th minute, despite his 33 years, it was Quaresma again who won possession before feeding Andre Silva for the third.
When he was replaced near the end there was no round of applause. Instead the camera focused on Ronaldo, who showed appreciation to his old friend with a warm handshake. The pair will now face the runners-up of Group B, which will be decided today when Germany face Cameroon and Chile meet Australia. They will be without Pepe though, who picked up a needless booking and will be suspended.
New Zealand, in contrast, go home with zero points and just one goal in three games. “We are not happy because we didn’t get any points,” Smith said. “We came here to get through and we didn’t do that.”
For Smith and the Kiwis, their ship has sailed. Portugal’s, in turn, ploughs on.
“Our objective was to get to the semi-final and we know that whoever we play, it will be difficult,” Ronaldo said. “So we have to concentrate and be ready for it because whoever we face we want to win.”
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One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
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