Gareth Southgate has ruled Dele Alli out of contention to face a Panama side who calmly revealed their line-up early after days of intense scrutiny about England's starters.
England can seal progress to the World Cup last-16 stage with a game to spare if they follow up Monday's 2-1 win against Tunisia with another victory in sweltering Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday.
Much of the build-up has revolved around Southgate's starting side after the publication of pictures of assistant Steve Holland's training notes on Thursday.
The England manager played down the importance of that picture on the eve of the game and the furore that followed it, especially as "people have taken something from it which probably isn't correct".
Southgate has now told his players the starting line-up for the penultimate Group G match and confirmed Alli will miss out with a thigh strain.
"This morning he followed the exact programme we had planned," Southgate said. "He started training with the rest of the group and then did some more running on his own, so he's progressing really well.
"We're really pleased with where he is at, but he wouldn't be ready for the game tomorrow."
Alli looks set to be replaced in the starting line-up by Ruben Loftus-Cheek, while all eyes will be on the team sheet to see whether Marcus Rashford does indeed replace Raheem Sterling.
There are no such questions over the Panama team.
Manager Hernan Dario Gomez confirmed an unchanged starting line-up at the start of his news conference.
"It's always helpful to know the opposition team," Southgate said with a smile when the contrast was brought up.
"Let's be frank, we won the other night, we played well so we are not going to make many changes. He knows we have to make one.
"But, yeah, that's a personal choice. I think if I did it for this game having not done it for any others it would probably be seen as disrespectful to the opponent, so I'd be in another storm!"
Southgate understands the hunger to find out his team as much as the importance for England to keep a broader perspective to prevent getting "really insular" and "defensive" about issues like the pictured training note.
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Read more on World Cup 2018:
Joachim Low lauds cool German side after winning thrilling over Sweden
How the England players rated after Harry Kane double saw off Tunisia
Check out what we think are 10 best moments of tournament so far
Messi overreaction, Salah's exit and the 10 worst moments so far
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The England manager hopes to keep a relaxed environment where players are having fun, with the former defender particularly keen to keep those yet to get minutes happy.
"I think it's huge," Southgate said. "More than anything I think for the guys who aren't in the team tomorrow or who haven't been in the team for either game.
"I've fulfilled that role and know how difficult it is.
"We've got some young lads for who it's no doubt going to be just as challenging, in a different way, as it is to the senior lads who are used to playing.
"But I've got to say we've got some brilliant top professionals who are coping really well with that, both in their approach to training and in the conversations they have around the team.
"But there's no doubt the further we go in the tournament the more carefully that dynamic needs to be handled by myself and the staff. And I think it's key to teams doing well at tournaments."
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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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