Germany’s adventures at the Confederations Cup were always going to be regarded partly as a series of individual auditions.
By naming a young, experimental squad for the tournament, manager Joachim Low invited that view.
He could hardly be surprised, then, when one man’s sloppy performance in the world champions’ tournament opener, the 3-2 win over Australia, drew a damning verdict.
“It could be all over for Bernd Leno and the 2018 World Cup,” surmised one German newspaper the morning after the goalkeeper fluffed his lines, at fault for both Australian goals, the first a shot that slithered beneath his dive, the second a gift for Tomi Juric, Leno having parried the ball into Juric’s path rather than catch or steer it away.
“Leno made some errors, but I am not worried about that. He’s a good goalkeeper,” Low said.
Germany have a few of those. Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer, left at home recuperating from a foot injury, is Low’s clear No 1, and the hierarchy of the rest tends to be annotated not as second, third, or fourth choice but as 2a, 2b, and 2c.
Low indicated ahead of the Confederation Cup that all three of the glovemen selected for the Russia expedition, Bayer Leverkusen’s Leno, Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kevin Trapp, should expect to play at least a match.
Leno may have to stew on the bench while Germany take on Chile today.
Leno played in the first game because Ter Stegen and Trapp had each been given the gloves in Germany’s previous matches, against San Marino and Denmark respectively.
They gave good accounts of themselves, and both would hope that the cachet of their respective clubs counts in their favour.
Leno’s Leverkusen had a tough season. So, in some ways did Barcelona, second in the Primera Liga, and PSG, runners-up in France, but Ter Stegen and Trapp both established themselves as first choice with their clubs.
Trapp recovered from being dropped by PSG in the autumn, while Ter Stegen won a fierce duel for status with Claudio Bravo, who Barcelona sold to Manchester City, and who, like Leno, may have to watch the next instalment of the Great German goalkeeping audition from the sidelines today.
Bravo is Chile’s captain, but has been nursing an injury in Russia. He missed his country’s win over Cameroon, the veteran Johnny Herrera deputising.
What Bravo could certainly tell Leno is that Ter Stegen is an ambitious rival.
For two seasons at Barca, Bravo kept goal in league games, while Ter Stegen was designated the keeper for Uefa Champions League and domestic Cup commitments.
The German won trophies in those competitions but became dissatisfied with the division of labour and said so, loud and clear. German followers of Ter Stegen would not be surprised to know that.
When he and Leno were rivals at German under-21 level, the duel for status was so fierce that Rudi Voller, the head of football at Leverkusen and a former national team manager, advised that they should not go together to the 2015 European under-21 championship, for the sake of a peaceful atmosphere.
They are co-habiting in Russia, and Ter Stegen will hope in the coming days he can strengthen his case. His fans would argue that, if Low is seeking a deputy to Neuer whose style is closest to Neuer’s then Ter Stegen is the man.
He prides himself on his willingness to act as the modern keeper-sweeper, in the way Neuer does. His passing, with his feet, is accurate and confident.
He also comes out of his area willingly, so much so that one Barcelona-based columnist earlier this season remarked of his risk-taking: “Ter Stegen is not scripted by his coach, Luis Enrique, he’s scripted by Alfred Hitchcock.”
His thrill-a-minute safaris upfield, founded on the principle of supporting a high pressing game, can leave his team exposed.
That sort of boldness is precisely what Bravo was heavily criticised for during his difficult first season at City.
The Chile captain, brought to English football by an admiring City manager, Pep Guardiola, has concerns this summer beyond the calf problem he carried into the Confederation Cup.
City have paid €40 million (Dh163.8m) to Benfica for the 23-year-old Brazilian Ederson Moraes, a move Bravo cannot help but see as a sign that his status has waned.
sports@thenational.ae
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Pakistan squad
Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi
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MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 (Gundogan 56')
Shakhtar Donetsk 1 (Solomon 69')
Short-term let permits explained
Homeowners and tenants are allowed to list their properties for rental by registering through the Dubai Tourism website to obtain a permit.
Tenants also require a letter of no objection from their landlord before being allowed to list the property.
There is a cost of Dh1,590 before starting the process, with an additional licence fee of Dh300 per bedroom being rented in your home for the duration of the rental, which ranges from three months to a year.
Anyone hoping to list a property for rental must also provide a copy of their title deeds and Ejari, as well as their Emirates ID.
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The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Founder: Ayman Badawi
Date started: Test product September 2016, paid launch January 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software
Size: Seven employees
Funding: $170,000 in angel investment
Funders: friends
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Meydan racecard:
6.30pm: Handicap | US$135,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres
7.05pm: Handicap | $135,000 (Turf) | 1,200m
7.40pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (T) | 2,000m
8.15pm: UAE Oaks | Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,900m
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile | Group 2 | $250,000 (T) | 1,600m
9.20pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
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