MOLDOVA is used to being rolled over. For centuries it was piggy-in-the-middle to Russia and Turkey. Suleiman the Magnificent and Peter the Great dropped in from time to time. Thus the Moldovans are unlikely to be over-awed at the prospect of a visit from David Batty.

Yet Batty's presence in the England team Glenn Hoddle fields in Kishinev tomorrow would be the point at which pragmatism took over from the slightly misplaced euphoria of Euro `96. As Alan Shearer said this week: "We did well, but we didn't win anything."

All the signs are that if Batty is sufficiently recovered from a sprained ankle he will be recalled to the midfield. Hoddle has several times pointed up the difference between playing European Championship matches at Wembley in front of a large home crowd and slogging it out for World Cup points in a Balkan backwater. The presence of Batty would personify this difference.

"On Sunday," said Hoddle, "we'll be up against a new country with a passionate following. I'll just be happy with three points. If these come with a big victory fair enough, but the only way you're going to qualify for the World Cup is to get points in the bag.

"We all want to get off to a good start and with Italy playing Moldova in a month's time it would be nice to get a psychological advantage and put pressure on other people. But if we don't get the right result we'll just put pressure on ourselves."

Paul Gascoigne seems to have" recovered from his Achilles tendon injury in time to resume attacking duties with Alan Shearer and whoever replaces the injured Teddy Sheringham.