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A perfect blend of the old and the new

Emiratis and expats alike here stayed up until the early hours of Saturday morning to take in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

For many of the international athletes staying at the nearby Olympic Village and in the surrounding areas beyond, the late start time (9pm) in the English capital provided sufficient incentive for them not to attend overall.

Those TV spectators further east on the global map, like the UAE, equally would have weighed up the pros and cons of watching a four-yearly spectacle well beyond a reasonable bedtime with work the very next day.

The initial build-up hadn't inspired too much confidence in truth. A mix-up involving the North and South Korean flags in the women's football left a sense of ominous foreboding around the entire event.

There had also been concerns raised that the sudden ‘heatwave' around Great Britain had adversely affected the temperatures inside the much-heralded pool, with air conditioning apparently ramped up before Saturday's big splash.

The mere fact a farm scene seemed set to have a very central role in proceedings inside the stadium had many speculating as to whether or not GB was about to lurch from national delirium to nonsensical disaster.

However, many people involved in the bidding process – including penultimate torchbearer Sir Steve Redgrave – had been at pains to stress London would be different to Beijing prior to the off.

It would merely showcase Britishness as its best, without trying too hard to draw unfavourable comparison to its Chinese predecessor.

Those pledges proved prophetic too as, after a somewhat slow start, artistic maestro (and soon-to-be Sir surely?) Danny Boyle unleashed all that's great in Great Britain. From Bean to Bond, McCartney to Her Majesty, Rascal to Rowling, Boyle's finer attention to detail – if not a clearly defined narrative story – left no stone unturned to showcase a 21^st-century Cool Britannia to a captivated global audience.

Nothing of that colossal scale will ever go without its detractors, doom-mongers and naysayers, with minute holes to be exploited at every commentary gaffe and/or wrong musical accompaniment.

However, the overriding feedback was overwhelmingly positive and, while Bean, Beckham, Bond and Boyle all have their share in that, the 7,500 volunteers deserve huge credit to boot.

On a night of fervent national pride, their collective sacrifice and time made the opening ceremony what it was and will go down as historically – a resounding success.

Good luck, UAE

The UAE men's Olympic football team play their second Group A match against hosts Great Britain at Wembley on Sunday evening (Kick-off: 10:45pm).

Mahdi Ali's side were somewhat unlucky to lose their opener 2-1 to Uruguay on Thursday night after failing to capitalise upon the momentum brought about by Ismail Matar's initial effort and a succession of first-half chances.

That result has left the UAE needing a positive outcome from Sunday's showdown to potentially prolong their interest in the competition still further.

They're seemingly more than capable of doing exactly that too if they can cash in when in the clear ascendency.

alex@khaleejtimes.com