September 9th 2024.
Harry Kane was seen beaming with joy as he scored a crucial goal against the Netherlands, leading England to the Euro 2024 final with Spain. With an impressive record of 62 goals, he is undoubtedly England's top scorer. However, despite his remarkable achievements, there is some hesitation in betting on him to score the first goal in his 100th international cap against Finland at Wembley.
At 31 years old, the London native is the only Englishman to have won Golden Boots at both the World Cup and European Championship. He has also claimed three Premier League trophies with Tottenham and the equivalent in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich last season. Out of his 62 goals, only 8 have been scored in friendly matches, which is comparable to Bobby Charlton's 22 goals and Wayne Rooney's 16 goals in similar games. So, why is there a reluctance to bet on Kane to score first on Tuesday night?
In the past 18 international matches, Kane has only been the first goal scorer twice, in a 2-0 win against Malta last November and in a 1-1 draw against Denmark in the Euros. However, he has a slightly better record of scoring the last goal, which he has done against Scotland and Malta in the last 12 months. In a previous match against Malta, he even managed to score twice, with one goal being counted as an own goal. This meant that those who bet on him to score first, last, or at any time were able to cash in.
Kane has also proven to be a reliable scorer in crucial matches, such as against Italy, where he scored twice, and against Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-final, where he scored his 22nd penalty for the Three Lions. Although there is an anomaly in his goal against Slovakia, which was scored in the first minute of extra time and therefore doesn't count for betting purposes. Despite this, it wouldn't be a complete surprise if Kane broke the trend and scored the opener in his milestone match, with odds of 5/2 from various bookmakers.
In addition to Kane, there are also other players to consider for scoring against Finland. Jack Grealish, who scored against the Republic of Ireland, has odds of 17/2 from SpreadEx and Sporting Index to score the first goal. Anthony Gordon, who had a missed opportunity in Dublin, has odds of 11/5 from the same firm to score at any time.
On a side note, did you know that Finland is not actually part of Scandinavia? The Scandinavian countries include Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, while Finland is considered Nordic along with Iceland. Despite this, Finland has put up a decent fight in their previous matches, with a 2-2 draw against Scotland and a 4-2 loss against Portugal in their last seven games.
With that said, England is still the clear favorite to win, and the odds of them winning and both teams scoring are 9/4 from Sky Bet. For those looking for a specific score prediction, a 4-1 home victory has odds of 16/1 from bet365.
In other sports news, Jannik Sinner has had a fantastic grand-slam season, winning both the Australian and US Opens. As the world No.1, he is favored to retain his title in Melbourne in January, with odds of 3/1 from Betway.
Finally, in a recent controversy, Gary Lineker has defended England boss Lee Carsley over the "bonkers" national anthem row. Roy Keane, on the other hand, has criticized England's "awful" and "arrogant" performance in the second half against the Republic of Ireland. In more positive news, Jannik Sinner outclassed Taylor Fritz in a straight-sets victory to seal the US Open title.
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