Lots of weirdnesses in UAE soccer. A handful of foreigners are counted on to score most of the goals. Players are paid well despite tiny crowds. No one in the UAE pays much attention to the league except for Emiratis, yet every game is nationally televised. No admission is charged to see games, you can’t […]

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I don’t remember if I commented on this a year ago. Probably did. It certainly is strange to get up one day and realize … a bunch of people have left Abu Dhabi and the UAE. Just … gone.

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July 19. The birthday of someone I know well. I’ve been thinking about birthdays … and that was before I was told about this New Yorker commentary on keeping track of birthdays in a wired world. So, the question popped into my mind:

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At 8 p.m. Sunday night, Theyab Awana was not particularly well-known even in the UAE. A 21-year-old right-side midfielder for the Baniyas club, a rising player but not quite there yet, he was getting some playing time with the UAE Olympic team and had just made a breakthrough onto the senior national team, though not […]

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First thing that went through my mind when the winning penalty of the Fifa Women’s World Cup went in: “Well, good for them.” Japan’s 11 played their hearts out. They showed incredible resilience up to and through the final, when they twice overcame a United States lead. It was a bitter disappointment for the Yanks, […]

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This is supposed to be a walkover. The United States is ranked No. 1 in the world and has won two previous Women’s World Cups, as well. The Yanks have never lost to Japan, not in 25 games. Japan had never gotten past the quarterfinals of the World Cup … until last weekend. So, who […]

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I have no control over the ads that pop up on my blog. I don’t even get paid for them; some problem with me not having updated my account. And even if I were linked correctly I’d get, like, $100 for every thousand hits on the ads. I don’t do this for the money, clearly. […]

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Good to know the country still has a few million bucks to spend on silly extravangances, aside from Diego Maradona and the Getafe soccer club. My paper, The National, last week reported that the world’s most expensive car, a custom-made Bugatti L’Or Blanc, has been purchased by an unidentified businessman in Dubai for $2.4 million. […]

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That was the least inspiring/assuring 3-1 semifinal victory in the history of soccer. The United States was outplayed by France (!) for about 70 minutes, showing no imagination, an inability to hold the ball for three consecutive passes and almost zero tactical awareness as the French cut up their defense … but the Yanks got […]

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So, Diego Maradona in a traffic accident last night in Argentina. Just another day in the life for El Diego. The coach of Al Wasl is a flake. Has been for years. Still is. Stuff happens to him. Weird stuff. And I fear that is how Wasl will come to grief with their high-profile coach […]

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