England rivals in fix probe

A WORLD CUP qualifying match in England’s group is under scrutiny because of suspicious betting patterns.

FIFA warned Malta and Lithuania players before their October 11 clash that the game might be fixed.

Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo told The Sun: ‘The evaluation of the report says that there was overwhelming evidence that people in betting had prior knowledge that Malta would lose by at least two goals.’

The players were in the dressing room after the warm-up and were pulling on tracksuit tops and preparing to go out for the national anthems when the FIFA delegate came in and told them the organisation had been made aware of unusual betting patterns.

Malta did lose the Group F clash 2- 0 on the same night England played Slovenia but there is no suggestion that either the players or match official Jesus Gil Manzano have done anything wrong.

The second Lithuania goal came from an 84th-minute penalty.

‘When we were watching the odds we could see something was wrong,’ Francesco Baranca, director of anti match-fixing firm FederBet, told The Sun.

Bookmakers reported no ripples in the UK market surrounding what one described as a ‘lowkey game’. Malta, bottom of the group, had no shots on target and only 35 per cent possession.

England played Slovenia while Scotland faced Slovakia on the same night.

Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg told The Sun: ‘If you think about it, you can see why people would be suspicious and it is a sad situation. But I’m not aware of any players being involved in any wrongdoing that would tarnish the image of football.’

The FA are aware of the investigation and will continue to monitor it.