RICKIE Lambert is sweating on another chance to show he is worthy of becoming the third oldest England striker ever to appear at a World Cup finals tournament.

The Saints talisman, who had never even played in the top flight prior to turning 30, will be 32 and four months by the time next summer’s jamboree starts in Brazil.

In 13 previous World Cup finals, England have only ever taken two older strikers than Lambert will be next June.

Teddy Sheringham was 36 when he played under Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2002, while Emile Heskey was an older 32 than Lambert will be when he appeared under Fabio Capello in 2010.

After missing last Friday’s friendly loss to Chile through injury, Lambert will be hoping to recover to face Germany at Wembley tomorrow night.

If he doesn’t make that, then England at present only have one other friendly before boss Roy Hodgson names his World Cup party – against Denmark at Wembley next March.

Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez will also be desperate for another chance to impress against the Germans after starting against Chile as Saints aim to increase their amount of representatives at next summer’s World Cup.

Already Saints pair Maya Yoshida and Dani Osvaldo have seen their countries book their places inBrazil next summer, and both are virtually automatic selections barring injury.

Gaston Ramirez has one foot in the finals after Uruguay’s 5-0 first leg play-off win in Jordan earlier this week.

And Dejan Lovren and his Crotian colleagues are favourites to progress as well from their two-legged play-off against Iceland after drawing the first leg 0-0 in Reyjkavic last Friday.

For his part, Lambert is not yet a shoe-in for Roy Hodgson’s squad.

Fitness permitting, a good performance against Germany next Tuesday will go a long way towards helping him.

The only other candidate for a place in Brazil who offers Hodgson something similar to Lambert is West Ham’s Andy Carroll.

But the former £35m man still hasn’t played a single minute of competitive action in 2013/14 due to a heel problem.

An illness earlier this month further hampered his recovery programme.

Lambert was the joint highest-scoring Englishman in last season’s Premier League, with 15 goals - the same as Frank Lampard.

He is currently the third highest this term, with the only players above him in the list being international colleagues Daniel Sturridge (8) and Wayne Rooney (5).

Italy's medical staff revealed Dani Osvaldo needed injections after suffering from a “serious allergic reaction.”

The Southampton striker was substituted during the 1-1 draw with Germany and was spotted going into the locker room while the game was still on, then had a badly swollen eye.

“Going off the field, Osvaldo had a pretty strong allergic reaction, so he needed an anti-histamine injection,” Professor Enrico Castellacci explained.

“Now his condition has stabilised and there's nothing to worry about. It'll be wise for him to have some tests and find out what it is he's allergic to.

“These reactions can be more or less damaging, but he started to feel ill as soon as he got to the bench, then got worse until it became a pretty serious condition. We sent him into the locker room for treatment.

“He told me he had a couple of previous incidents in the past, so we advised him to carry cortisone in his pocket at all times and to have tests when he gets back to England.

“The allergic reaction came out in a rash, but when it inflates the throat then it can impede breathing and become very serious indeed.”