International Friendly Betting: England v USA

Internationals / Tareq Quiroz / 28 May 2008 / 1 Comments

Unlike England, TQ is using tonight's match at Wembley to prepare for Euro 2008. He suggests you do the same and get some international football betting practice in before the tournament gets underway next week.

England may not have qualified for the Euro 2008 finals but nonetheless they will be looking for some positive results in the end of season friendlies over the next week. Much to the chagrin of many of the Premier League clubs, England have far from prestigious friendlies coming up against the USA and Trinidad & Tobago.

Fabio Capello's men take on the USA at Wembley on Wednesday night and the big crowd will be expecting nothing less than a comfortable victory. A top squad has been assembled so England can have few complaints if they don't produce the goods. The USA, on the other hand, will be expected to get nothing from the game but they do come into it full of confidence. Capello has taken the astute step of naming a distraught John Terry as his captain for the game and he will be hoping for a big display from the Chelsea centre-back. He has also suggested that Rooney will play as a second striker although it remains to see who will get the nod up front with him.

At first glance, the Match Odds market looks like an England certainty but you can't help but have some caution at what are fairly prohibitive odds. The US team have played three games this year and have recorded a draw against Mexico and two impressive wins against Poland and Sweden. Lets not forget both Poland and Sweden are Euro 2008 bound, unlike England. Whilst some experts might not think too much of the likes of Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra and Eddie Johnson we have to remember these guys have played in the Premier League and know what it is all about. Add decent players like Tim Howard, DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan and the US are a much tougher proposition than you would at first believe. I see a tight game being decided by the desire of England's fringe players such as Bentley, Young and Defoe. Therefore my advice would be to play the Match Odds in running and back England after 20 minutes, assuming they haven't already scored at that point. The current [1.43] for an England victory is just too short and I would rather refute those odds and take the chance on getting a better price 20 minutes into the game.

A big Wembley crowd will be expecting goals but I have a feeling they will be going home slightly disappointed on that front. The England backline is very strong whilst the USA will undoubtedly work very hard and get a lot of men behind the ball. There is also a chance that the game may develop into a tired looking end of season friendly and I certainly don't expect more than a couple of goals. At [1.98] the Under 2.5 Goals option stands out and is a must bet in the Over/Under 2.5 Goals market.

The future for England is bright and Capello must be particularly excited by the quality of the wide players available to him. The likes of Bentley, Young, Cole, Downing, Lennon and Wright-Phillips should have Capello excited about how his England team will terrorise others in the years to come. From here you can only assume that this is a set of players that will attack the opposing full-back and win a lot of corners. Expect that trend tonight and it is the Corners Odds market that should be your first port of call. The 9 or Less option in the market is surely too short at [2.14] and is stand out lay bet in this market.

It is notoriously difficult to call the scorer of the first goal in friendlies but sometimes in sport things happen that appear to have been scripted. We have already highlighted England's high chance of getting plenty of corners and with the captain's armband I can see John Terry rising above the rest to nod England in front. Terry is currently available at [25.0] in the First Goalscorer market and that has to be the bet for this market.

England expects, Capello expects but will Uncle Sam spoil the party? Whatever happens it will good to get us into the flow of International football once again as we approach Euro 2008.