International Friendly Betting: Ireland v Colombia

Internationals / Dan Fitch / 28 May 2008 / Leave a Comment

Dan Fitch has his Irish eyes firmly on Fulham today as he looks ahead to another international friendly match.

Punters are used to seeing a team made up of pretty average Irish players plying their trade at Craven Cottage, but it won't be Lawrie Sanchez's sorry signings that will be on show in SW6 on Thursday night.

Fulham's charmingly ramshackle ground is to host a night of international football. Normally, this means that the Socceroos are playing at their second home and London's pubs are thrown into crisis, as all their bar staff book the night off to go down to Craven Cottage.

Luckily, the capital's landlords can rest easy, as the Australian national football team are busy preparing to quell Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in a World Cup qualifier at home in Brisbane. But branches of O'Neills may find themselves quite quiet tonight. Yes, it's London's Celtic population that will get to see their heroes in the flesh this evening, as the Republic of Ireland face Colombia. It's a fixture that makes sense, with London boasting a large Irish contingent, always ready to get in touch with their inner shamrock.

Of course it's hardly an away fixture for the players either, with most of them being English residents. But, regardless of their home postcode, the Irish squad will be out to impress Trapattoni following their uninspiring 1-1 draw with Serbia. Having said that, it looks like the Italian finds himself with a group of players that largely pick themselves.

John O'Shea and Aiden McGeady both join the squad, after missing the Serbia game through club duty (ie. still being drunk in Moscow and Glasgow, respectively). Both will start on Saturday in a team that is struggling to find eleven top flight players.

O'Shea is rumoured to be replacing Stephen Kelly at right back, but it would surely make more sense for him to slot in at centre back as a replacement for the error prone Paul McShane. The Sunderland centre back has been left out in the cold by Roy Keane due to poor form and looked no more composed on international duty, when he was the culprit for Serbia's goal.

Such a paucity of talent will surely lead to Trapattoni learning the required English to convince Andy O'Brien to return to the international setup (yes, things have got that bad). O'Brien is at least a steady performer who doesn't let anybody down and at 28 years old is hardly at an age where he needs the rest to prolong his career.

Trapattoni also has to make the decision as to whether to recall Stephen 'Billy Liar' Ireland. He may be an idiot, but he's also a solid Premier League player that would enhance an Ireland squad lacking quality in central midfield.

Damien Duff looks like a shadow of his old self and with the promise of McGeady and the energy of Stephen Hunt available on the flanks, it may be that he loses his place in Ireland's team. Andy Reid finished the season strongly in a midfield playmaker role for Sunderland and he will be a valuable addition to the squad when he returns from injury.

Up front, skipper Robbie Keane is an automatic pick, though he will be required to weigh in with more goals than he has on the international stage of late. There is no outstanding candidate to partner Keane, with Reading's Doyle and Long lacking top class quality. Last Saturday's goalscorer Andy Keogh is perhaps too similar to play alongside Keane, but provides an interesting option from the bench.

Colombia will use this match to warm up for their World Cup qualifying matches. They are currently unbeaten after four qualifying games, which has included a draw against Brazil and a win over Argentina.

Ireland are too short at [2.38] with Columbia at [3.05] and the draw the pick at [3.45]. In the correct score markets, the 1-1 and 2-2 are both worth covering, with a stalemate always good value between two sides with little to play for.