International Friendlies Betting Odds: England’s Italian Job to Settle World Cup Squad

25/03/2018 10:15

while we’ve got around two and a half months to go until the start of the world cup in russia, tuesday night is a huge milestone for national managers. this is the last round of international games before the end of the current football season (in most european countries at least), which will delight many fans.

however, that leaves very little time for the national coaches to examine their options going into this summer’s huge tournament, so tuesday’s games are vital. ahead of these huge contests, you can see our betting tips, predictions and odds comparison for the biggest games below.

england v italy: crunch time for three lions’ stars

england’s world cup squad hasn’t looked quite so open for a long time, which some seem to think is exciting. however, gareth southgate’s last opportunity to evaluate them is in tuesday’s friendly with a side who couldn’t make it to russia.

italy are the visitors to wembley for this crucial game, with four newcomers in the squad. those players will all be pushing for a place in russia, ironically against a talented group who will be missing out. this could be a big chance for someone like liverpool’s joe gomez; who is an 11/8 shot to make the world cup squad with betvictor. there are plenty of other young names in the frame, but how will that affect tuesday’s clash?

it’s obviously not that huge of an occasion for the italians, with luigi di biagio stepping up from the under 21 side to take charge. they are looking to rebuild their squad after the failure to make russia, and with plenty of under 21 graduates coming through the ranks that should be made easier as they warm up for the next euros.

however, we’re still likely to see a more restricted italy side make this trip. england have held three home friendlies since the last euros, against spain, germany and brazil. each of those have finished level, with a repeat priced at 9/4 with bet365 according to the latest odds comparison.

russia v france: russians set for another heavyweight encounter

russia are making heavyweight friendlies their aim of late, which doesn’t quite make sense when you look at their group. testing yourself against the best is worthwhile, and nations will snap at the chance to visit the country before the main event.

however, russia’s group doesn’t exactly lend itself to warm up clashes with brazil and france. uruguay and egypt are the main rivals for the hosts this summer, hardly opposition from the elite bracket of footballing nations. this clash does appear to be more of a glamour tie for the russians, who could use some closer ties with some of the world’s biggest countries.

odds comparison shows the french the favourites here, and they have a wide array of attacking talent going in to this summer’s tournament. that’s certainly something which comes across when you look at les bleus’ record in friendly games of late, having seen them draw 2-2 with germany in november. three of their previous four non-competitive games have seen at least four goals, while their last three trips have all been high scoring.

they’ve played their last three away friendlies at germany, italy and holland, scoring at least twice in each and seeing over 3.5 goals land. with that in mind, over 2.5 goals looks well priced at 11/10 with betfair given that russia have been strong going forward at home too.

germany v brazil: world cup final warm up?

even before we saw the world cup draw in december, many were expecting a meeting between germany and brazil in the world cup final this summer. however, they’re meeting almost four months ahead of time, with a friendly scheduled in berlin this week.

the brazilians will obviously be looking to make up for their 7-1 thumping at the last world cup, a mark which still hangs over the national side. just like that clash, the samba stars will be without leading man neymar for this game. can they survive this trip without the psg star? our odds comparison does make germany 6/5 with 888sport to claim a victory.

brazil should still score in their clash with germany, as they did almost four years ago. while we can’t see the world champions racking up another seven goals in this clash, we do also see them getting a goal in berlin. we think both teams to score is the best way to go here, and you can back that at 7/10 with coral ahead of tuesday’s live clash.

spain v argentina: can messi reign in madrid?

one of the most interesting friendlies this week is the meeting between two slight world cup outsiders. both germany and brazil are being talked up for the trophy, but things are a little more muted around spain and argentina.

the pair meet in madrid this week, as the 2010 world champions look to get one over the 2014 runners-up. that will lead to a game packed with talent, as argentina have named a strong squad for these two big clashes, especially given the limited time that jorge sampaoli has spent in charge of the national side compared to his rivals.

having saved argentina’s qualifying campaign, argentina are now among the favourites to push for glory this summer. that’s largely down to the form of lionel messi, who has been incredible for barcelona of late. after his brilliant display against chelsea in the champions league, you’d expect him to perform in a high profile game in madrid.

that should make it no surprise that he’s among the favourites to score according to our odds comparison, priced at 7/4 with betfair. however, we can’t see past both teams to score as the main bet for this clash. both sides have so much scoring talent that btts is really well priced in this one at 4/5 with bet365.


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