Just about everything trendy in the United States can be found in the UAE. It’s remarkable, really … the assumption by corporate America that the UAE will be a welcoming place for whatever it is they are selling. And, apparently, usually being right about that. Whatever It Is They’re Selling usually lands first in Dubai, […]

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I need to scold the newspaper headline writer for this one. “Matar man of the moment …” is how it started. And anyone who follows UAE soccer would immediately think of someone other than the man to whom the headline writer was referring. That would be Ismail Matar, the Al Wahda forward universally considered one […]

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The European Champions League is a very big deal in most of the world. Especially once we get down to the group stage, which boasts 32 of the best club teams in Europe — which generally means 32 of the best teams in the world. We at The National hold deadline an additional 90 minutes, […]

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It is tempting to say that little Mohammed Khaled is the first kid on his block to have a Bentley, but given the mania for cars in the UAE, that’s an assumption we can’t make. It is fair to suggest he will have the longest wait to get behind the wheel of the new Bentley […]

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Jorge Valdivia is known for being … a bit controversial. Arguments with soccer authorities, rumors about off-the-field issues … But he usually overcomes any of that with his football skills, which are advanced. Al Ain fans still get a bit rapturous when recalling his two-season stay with the team from 2008 to 10. Fans in […]

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The Arabian Gulf League, the UAE’s professional league, over the past year lost two of its more recognizable players — Asamoah Gyan, the Ghana captain and Al Ain forward, who decamped to Shanghai SIPG; and Grafite, the leading scorer for the 2009 Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg and later of Al Ahli, now back in Brazil. Of […]

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The game we know from April through August changes markedly the final month of the season, due to Major League Baseball’s roster expansion. Limited to 25 players for the first five months, they can add eight, nine, 10, 15 extra players beginning on September 1, which allows for more one-dimensional players and a lot more […]

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We like where we live. Quite a bit. Particularly given where we lived the first three years in Abu Dhabi. “Functional” would be the biggest compliment we could pay those two apartments. Where we are now is a tower of about 20 stories. Maybe four years old. With a gym, a swimming pool and several […]

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I am a fan of the Arabian Gulf League. This is soccer. The top division of the domestic league. It may not be La Liga or the Premier League, but it’s what we have, here in the UAE. It’s indigenous. It’s hometown. And your local club is just down the street from where you live, […]

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Final score: Al Ahli 8, Fujairah 1. And there is your season-opening game of the Arabian Gulf League season. One of the richest clubs in the league against one of the smallest, and 8-1 is a bit of a statistical outlier, but it’s not like anyone who knows UAE football says: “What? That’s not possible!” […]

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