Don't back Sven's boys

13 April 2012

One of football's legendary gamblers, Millwall striker Steve Claridge joins Standard Sport today with the first of his World Cup betting columns.Claridge claims his gambling has cost him £300,000 over the last decade, but now enjoys only a "modest flutter".

The message to anyone thinking about gambling on the World Cup over the next few days has got to be: steer clear of England.

I reckon that anyone following their hearts and putting their hard-earned on Sven-Goran Eriksson's team might as well drop it down the drain.

I don't think we can win a major championship until we find a genuine left-winger for a start and after all the injuries and people playing out of position, it does not look good.

You can get odds of around 12-5 for Sweden to beat England on Sunday and that does not look a bad bet compared to evens for Sven's men to win.

You have to be as objective as possible and of all the bets I have seen on England, I reckon 5-1 for them to finish bottom of Group F is about the best.

You will not get anyone more patriotic than me and I hope to God I am wrong, but I am not getting swept along with World Cup fever.

My favourites to win the competition are France but, at a price of around 3-1, they are not very attractive.

You can get decent odds of 7-1 on Brazil, though, and they would be my value tip. I have been looking through their team and I can't believe they struggled through qualifying.

You could also put them in an accumulator with France, Spain, Portugal and Italy to win their groups.

Another sensible bet would be Italy's Christian Vieri for top scorer at 14-1. You need someone who is going to play a lot of games and I think Italy could get as far as the final.

An outsider could be Djibril Cisse, of France, at 100-1, who could get a chance if Thierry Henry is injured.

Don't be worried that he or any of the other Europeans will be badly affected by the weather.

The Met Office tells me that the weather in Japan and Korea will probably not be that much hotter that in a decent English summer.

Generally, my advice to anyone who wants to get a bit serious about their betting on the World Cup would be to do a bit of homework. You have got to be watching a lot of the games, which means getting up early. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am no expert on that subject, although I might be by the end of the tournament.

I also think you should not rush into any bets before you have got an idea of the teams. With injuries to big players like Michael Ballack, Freddie Ljungberg and Zinedine Zidane, you don't know how they are going to shape up.

Good luck!

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David Jones (Footballer)

Don't back Sven's boys

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