Scotland v South Africa- good thing it's not rugby!

/ Editor / 21 August 2007 / Leave a Comment

Gordon Kerr talks us through his bets for tomorrow night's friendly

On Wednesday Scotland face South Africa in an international friendly at Pittodrie in Aberdeen. Luckily it's football and not rugby so Scotland have a very good chance of victory. This is reflected in the price, currently 1.66. Although this should be a home banker you have to remember it's Scotland and you never can tell how they will perform.

I will never forget the night we played Egypt at Pittodrie in 1990 and lost 3-1. Everyone expected a comfortable win but we were 2-0 down at half time and were generally outplayed. The captain that night was Alex McLeish and I'm sure that night is etched in his memory forever. Scotland are a much better team when they are the underdogs but there should be no slip ups this time.

Scotland manager Alex McLeish gives Barry Ferguson, David Weir and Paul Hartley a rest for this one. Although they will be missed Scotland should still be too strong. South Africa are currently rated 64 in the FIFA rankings whilst Scotland are 22. Half of South Africa's squad play in their domestic league and the rest are European based squad players. They don't have any established stars playing (Benni McCarthy is still injured) but they do have a top quality manager in Carlos Alberto Perreira. The two times world cup winner is building towards the 2010 World Cup which is to be held in South Africa.

Scotland will be looking to maintain their good form prior to their crucial Euro 2008 double header against Lithuania and France in September. Gary O'Connor has scored in the last two internationals and now he's playing in the premiership for Birmingham City this can only improve his game. I shall be expecting him to play well and score.

On the correct score markets I am looking for Scotland to score at least twice. Hopefully they can keep a clean sheet and 2-0 is currently around 7s. On the handicap list Scotland -1 goal is priced around 2.5 which looks worth an interest. In the over/under market the overs 1.5 goals at 1.37 looks short to me so I am going to have a saver on the over 2.5 goals currently available at 2.1.

My bets will be, Scotland to win 2-0 around 7s. Scotland - 1 goal around 2.2 and a saver on the over 2.5 goals around 2.1.