Near the sink of my home in Abu Dhabi is a plastic bottle of dish soap. It is the Pril brand, and beneath the name are these words: –MULTI POWER –AGAINST GREASE + CRUSTS –NEW –And at the bottom of the label, it has one more note, in smallish, white type: “German Quality”. And right […]

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This was the mind-boggling score of the weekend. Actually, of the season, so far. Maybe the decade, to date. A team from a hamlet, really, of the northern UAE outback that is Fujairah, scoring four on Al Jazira, the big, proud club smack in the middle of the 1 million people on Abu Dhabi Island. […]

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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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Anyone who follows soccer at all in the Middle East knows about Omar Abdulrahman. Or “Amoury”, as he is known by fans. Tiny kid, enormous hair, advanced technical skills. Plays for the UAE and Al Ain club. This is a part of the world where putting a little mustard on every pass is considered a […]

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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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A visitor driving the streets of any UAE city over the past week may puzzle over the large, rectangular photos of Emiratis along the sides of major roads. The signs invariably picture an Emirati man or woman in national dress, with a few lines Arabic script below the photo and a three-digit number. And, sometimes, […]

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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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