while the international break isn’t always that highly anticipated, the return of international football in a world cup year is quite exciting. we’re less than three months out from the start of the tournament in russia, so this batch of friendlies are really rather significant. that’s great in a week where we’re starved of top quality football, and there’s a lot going on this friday night with some big encounters. ahead of friday’s matches, we present you with our betting tips and odds comparison below.
holland v england: southgate set to make big changes
gareth southgate does have a tough choice to make when it comes to selecting an england side in holland. he is likely to have to split his side between the old heads and those desperately trying to work their way into this plans. a mixture of injuries and likely demands from the clubs will leave southgate short of his strongest side at some point over the course of the meetings with the netherlands and italy, so his best course of action is to mix and match newcomers in with the bigger names. but how will that play out in amsterdam?
that mix has certainly taken an effect on the anytime goalscorer market, where the absence of harry kane is glaring. sporting lisbon forward bas dost is the favourite, which seems like an odd choice. in form jamie vardy is further down at 13/5 with betfair, and we think he’s worth backing for a goal or two in this clash. on top of that, we can’t see a depleted england stopping the dutch – who have eight wins in nine. however, the hosts haven’t met major opposition in that run, so we see this one finishing level. the draw is 2/1 with coral according to our odds comparison, and that’s our pick for this one.
russia v brazil: neymar-less brazilians clash with hosts
the russians welcome brazil to moscow a few months in advance, with the five time world champions heading to the host nation for this friendly. the russians are fresh from a 3-3 draw with spain in their last game here, while argentina won 1-0 back in november. brazil will want to pick up an away victory of their own, but they are likely to struggle without neymar leading the charge.
the forward is in a race to make it to russia this summer, so this could offer a good opportunity to assess where they are without the psg striker. however, we obviously would rather see one of the world’s best players at the tournament and we’re hopeful he’ll make it in time.
the samba stars are likely to struggle at the back here, with recent high-profile meetings with japan and argentina not going to plan. the issue for the favourites is also that russia are getting used to big friendly clashes, and recent 3-3 draws with both spain and belgium have set them up well for this week’s clash. we’re hoping to see plenty of goals in friday’s late afternoon game, and we think it’s worth backing a high scoring affair. we suggest going for both teams to score, which can be found at evens with ladbrokes on our odds comparison.
the most recent two world cup winning sides meet on friday night, as spain head for germany. these two are obviously among the favourites to win the tournament in the summer, and they met in the under 21 european championship final a year ago so they’ve got plenty of young blood coming through.
this should be a fantastic game, and the fact that it’s live on tv in many european countries does give fans the chance to take a look at these contenders in action. even in a friendly clash, seeing two of world football’s super powers going head to head is a thrilling prospect.
however, just how open will this clash be? after all, the pair are around the same level of ability, they both have huge squads to pick from and they each love to dominate possession. we aren’t likely to see any major weaknesses from either side, and there could be a lot of patient play waiting to pounce on an opening.
the other issue here is that neither will want to go all out against a potential tournament rival so close to the tournament, so we like the look of the draw here, which has landed in four of germany’s last five non-competitive contests. our odds comparison makes the draw 23/10 with betvictor.
argentina v italy: argentina and italy build new eras
only one of these two superpowers has booked a place in russia, with italy embarking on a new direction 12 years after they should have. with a raft of new talent things could turn around for them in the near future, but the same can be said of argentina. after so many false dawns – including three straight defeats in the final – things finally seem to be going right for the south american giants. they have a real tactician as a manager here, and things could finally take shape this summer after jorge sampaoli saved a horrific qualifying campaign.
this clash at the etihad should see argentina rule over a young italy team, especially given the different goals of the pair. while italy are slowly rebuilding under the eye of their under 21 boss, argentina are getting ready for a world cup. they should be more focused and closer to the finished product, while they’ve won eight of their last 10 friendly matches going in to this meeting in manchester.
the argentines are favourites according to our odds comparison, and we’re backing them to secure a win at 19/20 with bet365 in this clash.