Weekend Review: England and France flop to burst bettors’ bubble

Amid the lull of the international break, losses for Euros favourites France and England gave the bookies something to smile about on a low-volume weekend.

England (9/10) lost 1-0 at home to Brazil (13/5) thanks to a strike from teenage sensation Endrick, as a much-changed Three Lions failed to click into gear.

Jude Bellingham showed his class in flashes throughout but without the focal point of Harry Kane and the driving force of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, England looked limp at Wembley.

Meanwhile, France (4/5) fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Germany (3/1) after going behind in just eight seconds thanks to a Florian Wirtz strike. Kai Havertz made it 2-0 for the Euros host nation just after the break.

With England and France the firm favourites for the tournament this summer, the pair’s losses were a welcome boost for operators.

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill said: “Relatively quiet weekend with another international break. However, safe to say the bigger games went our way. France versus Germany and England versus Brazil came in one and two for both the turnover and result chart as they were the best results in the book overall.

“Two home team favourites losing to nil and few goals in total made those tough result for punters.”

Betfred’s Alan Firkins added: “Great result for the layers of course, but not for the nation. England carry the mantle of favourites in most books for football’s European Championship in the summer, around 11/4, but frankly looked anything but at Wembley on Saturday night.

“They seemed disjointed, lacklustre and rather surprised by the uncompromising intensity shown by occasionally not-so-friendly rivals Brazil.”

Elsewhere, in horseracing, the Flat season got underway at Doncaster and a fantastic result in the Lincoln Handicap made for smiles all round for the traders.

Mr Professor, that went off at 33/1 to win the one-mile race, emerged victorious after being led by jockey David Egan to finish first by a length-and-a-half.

Chazzesmee, the 5/2 favourite, only managed to come in fifth after looking for a double following its win in Ireland last weekend, while last year’s winner Migration failed to make it out of the stalls.

Gill said: “The official start of the Flat season at Doncaster saw a good day of racing. The Lincoln went the way of 33/1 shot Mr Professor, unsurprisingly a great result that saw traders here cheering, with second, third and fourth going to 16/1, 22/1 and 28/1 shots, respectively.

Firkins added: “The Flat season got underway at Doncaster, and it was good to see three-time champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa back among the winners after recent travails in Hong Kong.

“The Lincoln Handicap went to 33/1 shot Mr Professor, with jockey David Egan cementing his partnership with Amo Racing and Kia Joorabchian. The fav could do no better than fifth and it was an excellent result.”

Finally, in F1, Max Verstappen’s winning streak came to an end in Melbourne after the Dutchman was forced to retire after just four laps due to a brake failure.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz wasted no time using the opportunity, taking P1 just weeks after having his appendix removed to lead a Ferrari one-two in front of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Gill remarked: “Finally, a bit of drama in F1 as Max Verstappen’s endless winning streak came to an end with a DNF [did not finish] in Melbourne. Having been in surgery a few short weeks ago, Sainz holding on for a well-earned win was another good result for the book that left us well in the black.”