The good news for England manager Gareth Southgate is that Hungary will not be at the World Cup finals in Qatar. Four fixtures against the same opposition, two of them stained by racist abuse of his players, is quite enough in the space of 10 congested months, especially when matches against the Hungarians now act as a clear gauge of England’s diminishing potency.
Last September, Southgate took England to Budapest for a World Cup qualifier. It was their first outing since a historic high, a first major tournament final since the World Cup in 1966, and if the experience in the final of the delayed Euro 2020 had been bittersweet after England lost to Italy on a penalty shoot-out, the display at the Puskas Arena spoke of a continuing upwards trajectory. England scored four second-half goals, and let in none.
After that, the Hungary gauge turns into a barometer of England’s slipping form against stronger nations. They fell behind at home in World Cup qualifying last October, and drew 1-1 thanks to a goal from the defender John Stones. Ten days ago, in a Puskas stadium from which adult spectators were mostly banned because of the abuse last year, Hungary took the lead thanks to another penalty. This time, England had no answer.
Unless Southgate and some weary England players can reverse that pattern against an all-too-familiar Hungary on Tuesday evening at Molineux, they face the very real possibility of relegation from the Nations League’s top tier.
That in itself would be a relatively minor setback. The principal aim of this month’s matches and September’s two games in Nations League Group A3 has been to finesse tactics and personnel for Qatar 2022, a tournament in which Southgate has a high standard to maintain.
He is approaching six years in the job and so far he has achieved England’s best showing at a World Cup in 28 years – the semi-finals at Russia 2018 – and their finest ever performance at a European championship.
A losing semi; then a losing final. Southgate is well aware there is only one available podium finish after that which can be interpreted as concrete progress – a gold medal at the next major tournament.
England 0 Italy 0: player ratings
He is typically candid about the pressure that creates. “I won’t outstay my welcome,” he said after England had followed up the loss in Hungary with a 1-1 draw against Germany.
When those matches were followed by Saturday’s goalless draw with Italy he felt he had justify his choice of a more experimental side. “I didn’t want to keep rolling out the same team [simply] because a win might take pressure off my shoulders,” he explained in what was also a tacit acknowledgement that there are areas of his squad where there is a significant gap between those he banks on and the back-ups.
Above all, at centre-forward, where Harry Kane’s importance becomes more conspicuous as England chase a first goal from open play in 280 minutes of competitive football. Kane converted a penalty to earn the draw with Germany, marking his 50th England goal.
The burden of any England manager is to be judged according to the standards set at the top of the Premier League. As Southgate was fielding questions on Monday about the recent drought of goals, the two leading clubs in English football were unveiling or announcing the signings of exciting young centre-forwards, with Erling Haaland, 21, presented at Manchester City, and 22-year-old Darwin Nunez completing his transfer from Benfica to Liverpool.
Germany 1 England 1: player ratings
Between them, these starlets have already scored 29 goals in 30 Champions League matches. Kane’s understudies for England – the likes of Tammy Abraham, Ollie Watkins, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin – are not with clubs involved in club football’s leading competition.
Nor will Manchester United be in the Champions League next season and Southgate has indicated that United’s Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have work to do to be on the plane to Qatar.
He also nurses concerns about how close to City’s best XI Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling will be in the coming season, although if they are in and out of Pep Guardiola’s team as it accommodates Haaland, there may also be some benefits for England.
The calendar from August to mid-November, when pre-World Cup preparation begins, will be packed and exhausting for the best club footballers. If the often drab Nations League two weeks has reminded of anything, it is that most of England’s players are in need of a proper summer rest.
Hungary 1 England 0: player ratings
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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