DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: In the Middle East, where sport and diplomacy are closely intertwined, political passions can spill over onto the playing field.
With the Palestinian cause the core issue uniting Arabs across the region for decades, Israeli players meeting Arab opponents on the field have learned the age-old conflict always looms. Spectators have thrown shoes and jeered. Egyptians, Saudis and others have refused handshakes or pulled out of matches.
But on Friday, politics played a vastly different role. Months after the United Arab Emirates normalized ties with Israel, an Israeli national rugby squad touched down in Dubai to meet the Emirati team on the field for the first time. The more experienced Israeli team swiftly beat the UAE 33-0 in the first 7-a-side friendly match, held without crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The rugby players and few spectators rose as Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, blared over the grassy field and through rows of skyscrapers. The players shook hands, slapped backs and bumped fists over a thumping electronic beat.
Emirati players seemed uncomfortable only when asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the UAE and Israel were never at war and for years cultivated covert ties, the federation of seven sheikhdoms formally considered Israel an enemy.
Following the establishment of formal ties last year, the public blowback in the UAE has been muted if not absent. Palestinians, for their part, have lambasted the Israel-UAE normalization as a betrayal of their cause for statehood.
“We don’t think about whether Israel is a good country or a bad country,” said Ibrahim Doree, an Emirati player, his face glistening with sweat after the game. “We just follow our leaders,” he added, declining to discuss the conflict before rushing to meet the Israelis for a barbecue dinner in the desert.
The Israelis were more emotional. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin beamed onto the field with a dramatic speech about friendship.
“This is insane, insane,” said Israeli player Ori Abutbul, shaking his head in disbelief. “I have no words when people ask me how I feel.”
Already, sport has become key to new Israeli-Emirati ties. Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, purchased a 50% stake in Beitar Jerusalem, a club notorious for its racist fan base and refusal to have an Arab player on its roster. However, reports questioning the sheikh’s finances have since put the deal on hold.
Signs of friction have emerged in the countries’ diplomatic relations, too, with the UAE resisting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to entangle the country in his campaign for re-election.
But on the field Friday, Emirati team captain Younes Al-Blooshi said he didn’t want to talk about the region’s political intrigues and rivalries. He expressed relief, however, that certain old rifts were beginning to heal. Earlier this year, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries announced the end to a yearslong boycott of Qatar.
Throughout the bitter dispute, the UAE rugby team played in Qatar, but “it was pretty difficult,” Al-Blooshi acknowledged, declining to elaborate.
“Thankfully, things are all clear now,” he said, noting the team would be flying direct to Doha in May, a first since 2017 when the boycott closed borders.
Israel, meanwhile, will return to competing against European countries, with the 2021 European Rugby Championship Cup beginning next month.
Israel and UAE rugby teams face off in sporting first after new ties
https://arab.news/558qd
Israel and UAE rugby teams face off in sporting first after new ties
- The match came months after the Abraham Accords was signed between Israel and the UAE
- The 7-a-side friendly was a one-sided match, dominated by the more experienced Israelis
Dembélé stars as PSG crushes bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to regain top spot in Ligue 1
- The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat
PARIS: Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé starred with two goals and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain crushed bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat.
“We wanted to send a message that we’re back,” Dembélé said after PSG’s biggest winning margin against Marseille.
“It was almost perfect,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “It’s an important day for our fans because we made history, 5-0 never happened before.”
Despite PSG’s attacking flair, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi’s choices will be scrutinized following a truly dismal performance from his side lacking composure and fight. Marseille was eliminated from the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat against Club Brugge less than two weeks ago.
“Once again, I say sorry to the fans,” De Zerbi said. “I’m not in the players’ heads. I thought we had prepared well for this game but clearly not. We need to understand why we played this way in Bruges and here.”
Top scorer Mason Greenwood, fellow forward Amine Gouiri and new signing Ethan Nwaneri were anonymous in attack, with veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench.
De Zerbi dropped goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after a couple of poor performances and replaced him with Jeffrey de Lange, who was out of sorts, albeit not helped by his defense.
De Lange was easily beaten when Dembélé side-footed in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 12th minute following a quick break launched by Désiré Doué.
However, PSG could have been down to 10 players before then. Midfielder Vitinha caught defender Leonardo Balerdi’s ankle with a late tackle but escaped with a yellow card.
Having denied Bradley Barcola with a fine low save, De Lange was beaten again in the 37th when Dembélé profited from a glaring error from Balerdi.
He let the ball through his legs on PSG’s right flank, allowing Dembélé to attack the penalty area, dribble past him and find the roof of the net.
“We can’t accept this, we don’t come here to play like this,” said Balerdi, who did not mention his own performance. “We were not good enough and you could see it. Against such a team you pay for it.”
Marseille’s weak defense cracked in 10 second-half minutes, with Facundo Medina scoring an own-goal over the head of De Lange, and Dembélé setting up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a clinical volley before Lee Kang-in slotted home the fifth.
Marseille’s 1-0 win over PSG in September will seem like a distant memory.
Fans closely watched
PSG fans were in the spotlight after last season’s match at Parc des Princes was marred by homophobic and racist chanting, with a warning to “stop discriminatory chants” posted on the giant screen.
There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and referee Willy Delajod stopped play for about one minute around the 70th, at which point a message was posted on the big screen.
Köhn gets away with blunder
Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn got away with a blunder in a 0-0 draw at Nice in the French Riviera derby.
Köhn stopped the ball going out for a corner but slid and mis-kicked it to attacking midfielder Sofiane Diop on the edge of the penalty area in the 72nd minute. Diop’s curling shot was going in until defender Thilo Kehrer acrobatically heeled the ball away.
Folarin Balogun hit the crossbar for Monaco in the third minute.
Other matches
Veteran striker Ciro Immobile drew a blank on his league debut for Paris FC in a 0-0 draw at Auxerre.
During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) in the Italian league with 36 goals for Lazio and has scored 304 goals overall at club level.
Immobile played forward Jonathan Ikoné clean through during the second half, but Ikoné’s shot was saved.
Angers moved up to ninth after beating Toulouse 1-0 thanks to a brilliant lob from defender Lilian Raolisoa from nearly 40 meters out in the 89th.
Le Havre moved up to 13th after winning 2-1 at home to Strasbourg.
Lens beat Rennes 3-1 on Saturday.
