TIP OF THE WEEKEND: WAYNE ROONEY SET TO BAG HAT TRICK AGAINST SLOVAKIA
Many of us are always wondering which England team will show up to Wembley whenever they play an International qualifier. There's the team that wins ugly and gets dominated by lesser opposition before eeking out a last minute victory and then there's the team that slaughtered Croatia at their own ground last year in an absolute rout. I'm thinking that we'll be seeing the latter in the upcoming World Cup Qualifier against Slovakia and I'm backing Wayne Rooney to take out all kinds of frustration against the Eastern-European underdogs. With odds of 2/7, an England victory isn't really in doubt, but it's the manner of victory that predicates how much cash you'll be taking out of this match. I'm predicting an emphatic victory here. I know that most England supporters like to stay rationally optimistic or even downplay England's chances (we all know their ability to cock things up when its most important) but the really interesting thing is the fact that we're in such good form and it appears as though Wayne Rooney is extremely fired up.Having been singled out by Fabio Capello as a "Crazy Man" for his theatrics after being dismissed at Fulham last weekend, David Beckham immediately leapt to his defence and reiterated what many of Rooney's fans (myself included) have long expressed- that passion is what makes him such a good player. Rooney is a shadow of the agitated over-paid 18 year-old who swore blue and green at referees. While some are still critical of his attitude you can't deny that its improved. I think Capello is an astute man and that his statement wasn't meant to bring Rooney down. Instead, I think he was putting pressure on him- the good type of pressure. Everybody knows that if Wayne Rooney is playing well, England are playing well and I expect him to be the lynchpin of Saturday's action. I expect Capello to name Rooney and Heskey as the two out-and-out strikers with Aaron Lennon the form selection on the right, Steven Gerrard and Michael Carrick in the middle and hopefully Gareth Berry out on the left (please no more Stewart Downing). This formation complements Rooneys ability and I'm backing him not just to score goals- I'm backing him to score three. This is the time and this is the place. Rooney will lead the charge to South Africa and I'm backing him to fire the opening salvo this Satuday.TIPWayne Rooney to score a hatrick with William Hill @ 25/1