Football: Mboma expects tough task

Patrick Mboma, the Cameroon striker, is relishing the challenge of facing England at Wembley tonight but believes that Glenn Hoddle's side are the clear favourites to win.

Mboma, 27, is in top form at the moment, having scored 10 goals in his 11 international appearances, including six in Cameroon's unbeaten qualification route to next year's World Cup finals.

But he warned that Cameroon would have trouble in recording their first win over England at the third attempt, having lost in the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals and at Wembley in 1991.

Mboma, who plays his club football in Japan, said: "We are 11 players against 11 players so we will try to win. But I think it's 70:30 for England. The English national team is very strong. The last time I saw them was against Italy recently and they played very good football."

The Cameroon coach, Jean Manga, has brought what is virtually a full- strength squad to England, including several players based with European teams.