Football Internationals Preview

International friendlies rank somewhere just above washing the dishes and somewhere below watching the Great British Bake Off on things I like to do in midweek sadly the baking has finished so I might be forced to watch Sweden entertain England on Wednesday night.

The game marks the official opening of the new Swedbank Stadium (or Friends Arena as it will be more commonly known) in Stockholm. England have won the last two meetings between these sides including a dramatic 3-2 over them in the recent European Championships and it is 31/16 (32 Red) an England victory. Before the two recent defeats Sweden were unbeaten in their 12 previous against England and had won four of their last five home clashes. A Swedish victory in this game is priced at 8/5 (paddy Power/Stan James). The draw looks the way to go though as this would have paid in eight of the last eleven meetings between the sides and is available at 26/11 (pinnacle).

Those looking for a first goalscorer bet will see Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the 11/2 (general) favourite. The PSG man is in remarkable goalscoring form this season scoring 14 goals in 17 games for club and country. Those looking for an England goalscorer will see Danny Welbeck is 15/2 (bet365/paddy Power), Daniel Sturridge is 8/1 (paddy Power) and debutant Wilfried Zaha is 10/1 (general). The best value could be in taking Gary Cahill at 28/1 (Coral) or 11/1 (paddy power). I’ve seen Sweden a few times in qualifying and they are vulnerable at the back especially to set pieces. The Chelsea defender has five in 13 for Chelsea this season and two in his last eight for England.

Don’t expect a glut of goals bearing in mind that under 2.5 goals has paid out in seven of the 11 under Hodgson and two of the four overs came against San Marino and Moldova. Mind you another of those over games came against Sweden in the Euros and Sweden have gone over in eight of their last 11 and as such maybe a market to swerve this time around.

What of the other home nations? Well managerless Scotland take on Luxembourg in a game that looks even less meaningful than the England one. It is 4/6 (general) that Scotland win though you would have to be crazy to get on a managerless Scotland at that price. This look a game to avoid from a betting point of view. The Republic of Ireland take on Greece in a friendly and it is 8/5 (general) that they emerge victorious. The Irish will be desperate to make ammends after their poor performance in front of the home fans when they were hammered by Germany last time. Greece though do not have anywhere near the firepower the Germans do though they are five games unbeaten themselves winning four of these. Trapattoni has promised that Wes Hoolahan will feature at some point (likely from the start) and the Norwich attacking midfielder looks overpriced at 16/1 (Coral) to score first or at 6/1 (Coral) in the anytime scorer market.

Not all the games are meaningless mind you as the Northern Ireland for instance have an important Euro 2012 home qualifier with Azerbaijan. After an excellent result against Portugal last time out hopes will be high though 8/11 (bet365/ladbrokes/william hill) looks a little short for me, it is much easier to sit and hit teams on the counter than try break down teams like Azerbaijan. This is after all the same side who failed to beat Luxembourg at home. Take the visitors at 9/10 (pinnacle) with 0.75 start on the Asian Handicap which will pay if Azerbaijan win or draw and only result in a half loss if they lose by one.

BEST OF THE BETS

GOLD: Azerbaijan +0.75 on Asian Handicap at 9/10 (Pinnacle)
SILVER: Sweden v England to end drawn at 26/11 (Pinnacle)
BRONZE: Gary Cahill to score first 28/1 (Coral), anytime 11/1 (paddy power)

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14/11/2012     © Frixo 2024