Lampard to lead the way

Sports and showbusiness betting

ENGLAND’S much-vaunted footballers can book their place in next year’s World Cup finals by defeating Croatia at Wembley tonight.

The last time England needed to secure a positive result at a vital stage of a major tournament, they succumbed 3-2 to the Croats, a defeat which dumped our boys out of Euro 2008.

Not much has changed in playing personnel, but now England have a world-class manager rather than a Mike Baldwin doppelganger who appeared more concerned about keeping his hair dry than disasters unfolding on the pitch.

Fabio Capello has, so far at least, done a superb job as England manager.

The team has discipline, shape, purpose and method. And, above all else, Capello has found a way to harness the talent many pundits believed was being wasted under McClaren and Eriksson.

This could be England’s time on the world stage, but first things first. Let’s get tonight’s game out of the way and book our place in South Africa next summer.

England are rated 8-13 shots to win at Wembley, with the draw 11-4 and Croatia 11-2.

It could be tense and the Croats won’t go down without a fight, but I can’t envisage England securing anything worse than a draw, an outcome which would leave them on the brink of qualification with some easy matches to come.

As for a bet, I am going to throw a few quid on Frank Lampard to be first goalscorer.

The Chelsea midfielder has blossomed under Capello’s tutelage and, as the team’s penalty-taker, has more chance than most of getting on the scoresheet. He looks overpriced at 8-1.

Longer term, England are 8-1 joint third-favourites with Argentina to win the World Cup. European champions Spain and the ever-dangerous Brazil head the market at 5-1.


SCOTLAND must beat Holland at Hampden Park tonight to keep alive their qualification hopes.

They are 5-2 to do just that, but even though they have already qualified, the Dutch have pledged to field a strong side and their array of stars will surely boast too much fire power for the Scots.

I reckon 5-4 is an extremely fair price given the gulf in class between the two teams.


ENGLAND’S cricketers have somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in their two one-day internationals against Australia.

Andrew Strauss’s men were ahead of the game at the Oval and Lord’s, but their middle order capitulated while chasing moderate targets.

This leads me to ask why on earth is Warwickshire's Jonathan Trott not in the team?

This guy made a superb century on debut in the deciding Ashes Test at the Oval and boasts fine one-day form this summer. How the likes of Morgan and Bopara are selected before Trott is beyond me.

As for today’s game at the Rose Bowl, England were available at 11-8 and Australia 4-7.


OLDHAM RL are facing the business end of the season.

Sunday’s play-off elimination tie against Swinton at Boundary Park is a must-win game for Tony Benson’s boys, who know that defeat would see their dreams of promotion from Co-Operative Championship One lie in ruins.

The bookies don’t expect that to happen and make Oldham third favourites at 6-1 to win the play-offs.

Keighley are favourites at 11-10, followed by York at 2-1.


BOXING superstar Joe Calzaghe has been installed as the 5-1 favourite to come out on top in the new series of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, which gets under way on Friday week.

The unbeaten world champion teams up with Kristina Rihanoff, but faces opposition from other sporting personalities in ex-cricketer and would-be comic Phil Tufnell, former tennis ace Martina Hingis and 1990s champion jumps jockey Richard Dunwoody.

Tufnell, partnered by Katya Virshilav, is likely to be backed at 10-1, the same price as Hingis, who teams up with Matthew Cutler.

Dunwoody, who has the extremely pleasant task of dancing with Lilia Kopylova, is one of the outsiders at 25-1.


RECOMMENDATION: Frank Lampard to score first goal, England v Croatia, 8-1 (Ladbrokes); Holland to beat Scotland, 5-4 (Boylesports).