Lee Myung-joo says his Al Ain side have no other option than to glean victory from Tuesday’s Asian Champions League match against Nasaf.
The UAE champions, currently second in Group D, have made the trip to Uzbekistan for the pool’s penultimate fixture intent on getting a win to make certain their qualification for the knockout stages.
Al Ain come into the match on the back of a damaging defeat to Al Ahli in the Arabian Gulf League, but have already showed resilience in Asia by rebounding from opening losses to Qatar’s El Jaish with consecutive victories against Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli.
Al Ain, Asian champions in 2003, now face Nasaf knowing a win will guarantee their place in the last 16 with one match to spare. Lee, though, has urged his teammates to complete the job in Karshi.
“We have no choice but to win and go back to the UAE with three points if we want to qualify to the next stage of the Champions League,” the South Korean midfielder said. “We will show the best we have so that we can achieve our objectives in this important stage of the strongest competition in Asia.”
Coach Zlatko Dalic said he anticipates a difficult match against Nasaf, who five rounds into the Uzbek season share top spot in the league with Lokomotiv and Bunyodkor, but the Croat remains confident Al Ain have the quality to return home with the points. They are without the suspended Mohammed Abdulrahman, although the rest of the squad have travelled.
“Both teams face a very important match, with Al Ain needing three points over the next two meetings with Nasaf,” Dalic said. “But our main objective is to resolve matters in Karshi.
“Sure, the match will be very competitive, but we will fight to achieve our target and the goal of qualifying from the group stage for the third time in a row. I expect a strong confrontation with Nasaf at home and in front of their fans, but we will show our personality and our style.”
Asked about a response from last Thursday’s 1-0 league defeat to Ahli, a result that almost ensured Ahli will lift the title, Dalic said: “Yes, we lost in the league without scoring, but we showed a strong response in the second half of that match. We did everything on the pitch.
“Now, we think only about the game against Nasaf. We should double our efforts and enhance our focus to show our best and achieve a strong result.”
Elsewhere, Al Jazira host Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor with little left to play for. The Abu Dhabi club are bottom of Group C with a solitary point and therefore cannot advance. However, coach Henk ten Cate wants to use the game to build momentum for the final stage of the UAE domestic season.
“That we’re mathematically out of the Champions League does not mean we’re going into tomorrow’s match without the desire to win,” he said. “Our preparations during the past few days have gone well, and the players are determined on showing their best.
“We will strive to earn full points so we get a boost to help us better prepare for the rest of our important games in the Arabian Gulf League and the match against Sharjah in the quarter-finals of the President’s Cup.”
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
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Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
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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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