“History now says that Fabio gets all the big decisions right,” said the midfielder Frank Lampard. “He’s had great success and it’s not by chance. He is fantastic manager and his biggest Midas touch has been getting us working together as a team and as a unit. You can see the results of that pretty much in every game of the qualifying round.

That gives us the confidence that he will get it right at a tournament, when a decision needs to be made on team selection or on a substitution. We will play under a different pressure now because of the expectations, but we’re a little bit immune to that – you have to be. You shouldn’t get too down in the bad times or too carried away in the good. The manager is very strong on that. When we get together, no matter what the results have been in the previous games, the manager will still keep working and still keep the discipline with us.

“There is a level-headed atmosphere because we went through quite a low two years ago but, in a way, it helps we experienced that. Basically the same players are in the squad from those times, it’s just that we’re working together and we’re working very hard. It shows the difference that can be made with little detail and changes.”

John Terry, the captain, added: “We know we have another level and maybe two to get to before South Africa, and the manager knows that too. It’s important we don’t get carried away.”

World Cup 2010 South Africa winner odds

Brazil 5.5
Spain 5.5
England 6.5
Germany 12
Argentina 10
Netherlands 13
Italy 13
France 23
Russia 29
Portugal 34
Côte d’Ivoire 41
Serbia 51

It was a betting scam worth £10,000 and Le Tissier tried to get the ball out in under 60 seconds but a team-mate kept it in. He was heading for big losses but kicked it out on 70 seconds.

In his autobiography, Taking Le TissLe, he said that he tried to kick the ball out of play, but it was kept in by Neil Shipperley, who was unaware of the bet. “It seemed to be going like clockwork, We kicked-off, the ball was tapped to me and I went to hit it out towards Neil Shipperley on the left wing.

“As it was live on television, I didn’t want to make it too obvious, so I tried to hit it just over his head. But, with so much riding on it, I was a bit nervous and didn’t give it enough welly. The problem was that Shipps knew nothing about the bet and managed to reach it and even head it back into play.”

As spread betting goes, the longer the ball remained in play, the more money Le Tissier stood to lose.

“I have never run so much in my life. Suddenly it was no longer a question of winning money.”

The ball eventually went out of play on 70th second of the match, meaning that Le Tissier neither won nor lost money on his spreadbet.

In a statement, Hampshire police said “Police in Southampton have been made aware of a historic spread betting scam allegation at a Southampton football match in the 1990s. We have raised this matter with the FA and are discussing it with them. We will consider what action to take, if any.”

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