Tag Archives: gamble

Defoe in Young Boys gamble

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Spurs boss Harry Redknapp admits he is willing to gamble on the fitness of striker Jermain Defoe against Young Boys (12/1 in Match Betting) in the Champions League tonight, even though he might last only 45 minutes.

Defoe (10/3 – Two or More Goals) will miss England’s European Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland next month after Spurs (2/9) decided to book him in for groin surgery after the vital play-off with the Swiss club.

The striker has been dogged by the problem since the World Cup, fading out of Spurs’ season opener against Manchester City and lasting 66 minutes of the first leg in Switzerland before coming off.

He could be out for up to a month which would rule him out of Spurs’ Premier League matches against West Brom and Wolves – plus their first Champions League group game, should they progress.

“He’s not trained a lot,”  Redknapp said.

“When he has trained, he’s been all right, he’s been sticking goals in. But then he’s had days off where he couldn’t train. And he’s getting worse, he’s getting worse all the time. Sixty minutes is about as much as he can last.

“It might only be half a game he can last now, but it’s getting less each time – the pain’s getting worse. He can’t go on like that.”

Luka Modric is out after failing to recover from a groin problem he suffered in the first leg, giving another chance to Jermaine Jenas.

However, Redknapp may decide to play Wilson Palacios with Tom Huddlestone in the middle and give another opportunity to Giovani Dos Santos on the right-hand side.

The Mexican, Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko were all involved in light training on Wednesday morning and are ready to play a part.

Young Boys boss Vladimir Petkovic’s only injury absentees come in the form of defenders Emiliano Dudar and Hassan Lingani, both of whom did not feature in the first leg.

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Robben ready to take a gamble

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Netherlands winger Arjen RobbenArjen Robben is ready to take a gamble by playing against Cameroon on Thursday for the Netherlands (Holland 1/33 to win Group E).

The winger suffered a hamstring injury during the Dutch side’s final warm-up game against Hungary, and had to have five days of treatment.

He said he could play against Cameroon, just 19 days since he suffered the injury.

“Playing against Cameroon is possible,” Robben told reporters. “Risk is a big word as we already have taken a risk by choosing an aggressive treatment, where we could have written off the World Cup and said just go on holiday.”

The Dutch are already through to the last 16, so the pressure is off them to play their first-choice team against the already-eliminated Cameroon side.

The questions about a “missing link” in the Dutch side have made Robben a hot media topic but the nature of the injury has left him on the sidelines.

“You have to be 100 percent to play,” he said. “So far we have been considering the situation day-by-day as it happened only two weeks ago and normally it would take four to six weeks to recover from such an injury,” he added.

“Yesterday I had a tough training session, with some good five-a-side matches, and I came through well. I don’t think there’s a big risk that anything will happen to the hamstring.”

If Robben features at these finals it will be his fourth straight appearance at a major tournament.

“It has been hard so far,” said Robben. “I noticed during the first two matches that it is painful if you can’t play and just have to stay on the sidelines.”

“The recuperation was no fun at all and sometimes I felt like a martyr but I knew why I did it,” he added.

Holland boss Bert van Marwijk will let Robben make his own judgment over his fitness.

The winger has missed Holland’s two Group E victories with a hamstring problem so far as his team-mates breezed into the last 16 by beating Denmark and Japan.

“I am going to leave him to make the decision,” said Van Marwijk.

“He knows his own body best and he will let me know when he is ready.

“It can be in the next game or it can be in the knockout phase. He must take the decision.

“I’d prefer that he is used only when he is fit.”

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