International Friendlies (Feb 2-6)

[modo]

Agree Angelos,friendly match is friendly.

[Angelos]

Yeah, funniest is when most of them on a given day ends in draw. Suprise suprise

[ksk1912]

England - Switzerland (friendlies)

This is the first game with new coach Fabio Capello (England), and i know that Capello's teams playing allways very poised in defending zone. On the otherside Swiiss will be testing what can they do it in defending zone to a strong team.

Under 2.5 goal

[Laki88]

after crash in Euro2008 qualifications, i think that England win tommorow in match against Swiss..

[atothek]

Angelos, do you have any information about the Norwegian side for the game tomorrow against Wales?

[Angelos]

Judging by todays training the most probable starting line for tomorrow is as following:

(4-3-3) Jarstein/Opdal - Storbæk, Kah, Hangeland, Riise - Strømstad, Andresen, Nevland - Braaten, Carew, Gamst Pedersen.

I doubt Wales will win this as they will be without several of the regular players. However, I do see a potential draw because of the pitch.

I am going to place 1-0 handicap on Norway just to be sure. That's the safest bet for tomorrow imo.

[christo85efc]

Going to take Croatia to win against Netherlands.

First of all Netherlands miss their goalscorer - Van Nistelrooy. Other notable absentees are Robin Van Persie, Robben and Seedorf - a lot of creativity missing. Dont get me wrong they have a lot of others that can do the business, but i feel they will miss these players, especially the clinical Ruud up top. I have read that Huntelaar will play as a lone striker (below article).

Croatia come into the game on the back of 3 wins, notably england at wembley. Obviously this doesnt count too much as this is a friendly but Bilic seems to have the Croatia boys well organised from what ive seen, playing some decent football. They have a pretty dismal record at home as you can see from the following article taken from soccernet.com

"Croatia will be aiming to end their winless home record in Split when they take on fellow Euro 2008 finalists the Netherlands in a friendly on Wednesday.

Croatia have drawn six and lost two matches in the Adriatic city since they gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and their last outing in the popular tourist resort was a 1-1 draw with Brazil in 2005.

Coach Slaven Bilic believes the time has come for Croatia to give fans in his hometown something to cheer about.

'We are delighted to be back here playing one of the strongest European teams and I think this match is in the same bracket with the one against Brazil in terms of crowd-pulling and quality,' Bilic told reporters.

'We will take it as a competitive qualifier, meaning that we will be looking for a good performance and a win,' he said.

Bilic maintains it is time to move on after Croatia's impressive 3-2 win over England at Wembley in November.

'It's our first gathering since the Wembley feat and that was a while back. There is no living on past merits in football and what happened belongs to history books.

'We need to repeat performances at that level as often as possible and Wednesday's match is an ideal opportunity.'

While Croatia will be at full strength, the Netherlands will miss strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin van Persie as well as winger Arjen Robben through injury.

Van Nistelrooy picked up an ankle blow in Real Madrid's 2-0 defeat to Spanish Primera Liga rivals Almeria on Saturday while Robben and van Persie are long-term casualties.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten, who left Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt out of his 21-man squad, is likely to field Ajax Amsterdam hitman Klaas Jan Huntelaar on his own up front.

AZ Alkmaar defender David Mendes da Silva has been added to the squad after full back Andre Ooijer failed a medical test on Monday with a slight groin injury.

Midfielders Orlando Engelaar (knee) and Clarence Seedorf (ankle) also pulled out of the squad injured but have not been replaced.

Even with a depleted squad, playmaker Rafael van der Vaart said playing a friendly was useful."

Croatia home win @ 2.36 7/10

[atothek]

Originally Posted by Angelos

Judging by todays training the most probable starting line for tomorrow is as following:

(4-3-3) Jarstein/Opdal - Storbæk, Kah, Hangeland, Riise - Strømstad, Andresen, Nevland - Braaten, Carew, Gamst Pedersen.

I doubt Wales will win this as they will be without several of the regular players. However, I do see a potential draw because of the pitch.

I am going to place 1-0 handicap on Norway just to be sure. That's the safest bet for tomorrow imo.

Thanks.

[ben5991]

Steven Gerrard to score 1st goal tomorrow for England V Switzerland.. 13/2 or to score anytime 11/5 (Coral).. John Terry scored the first goal under Steve McClaren when he was captain against Greece, and if I recall Alan Shearer scored the first goal as captain under Glenn Hoddle (may be wrong)

[jongela]

Originally Posted by WHUPUNTER

Bulgaria look a decent bet to me. As you mentioned, they have a strong forward line with Berbatov and Petrov and although N. Ireland had a good qualifying campaign, they are an inconsistent side.

Bulgarian championship is in a break so the players from domestic teams are out of for.

[Djslutmonkey]

I have a feeling that win to nil for England might be a good bet; our back line is pretty much at full strength, as is central midfield, and Capello will no doubt be intent on stamping his authority on this team and getting them tight at the back.

The one thing that worries me is a quick look at recent Swiss results - they failed to score in their last game, but before that scored in their previous 13, including games against Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil and Germany.

As always, I end up looking at it and thinking maybe no bet is the best option for a friendly!

666. 15.11.2006 Basel Brazil 1-2 (0-2) h F (og Maicon)
667. 07.02.2007 Düsseldorf Germany 1-3 (0-2) a F Streller
668. 22.03.2007 Fort Lauderdale Jamaica 2-0 (2-0) a F Streller-Inler
669. 25.03.2007 Miami Colombia 1-3 (1-1) a F Frei
670. 02.06.2007 Basel Argentina 1-1 (0-0) h F Streller
671. 22.08.2007 Genève Netherlands 2-1 (1-0) h F Barnetta x2
672. 07.09.2007 Wien Chile 2-1 (1-1) a F Barnetta-Streller
673. 11.09.2007 Klagenfurt Japan 3-4 (2-0) a F Magnin-Nkufo-Djourou
674. 13.10.2007 Zürich Austria 3-1 (2-1) h F Streller x2-Yakin
675. 17.10.2007 Basel United States 0-1 (0-0) h F

[dj_fish]

Croatia to win

have to say few words about this game. this time this is more than a game. there is few reasons for that.
First of all croatia havent played in split for years. and there is reason for that. people couldnt not to comment poor game and than came anger from national leadership.
last game played in split was against brazil and players showed that they can play well in split and that they will.( must)
Bilic said that this is not friendlygame for him. his squad is fully fit and will for sure go for a win.
All of croatian players are in superb condition especially eduardo, corluka and kranjcar.
hollandy is without three import players; van nisterloy, seedorf , robben.
weather will be probably sunny here and around 15, little windy but ideal for playing.
motivation is huge on home side, hot ground and hell supporters. ideal formula for success.
i can see more than one in hollands goal, so -1,5 worth of shoot.
guests are not convincing either imo. they looked not interested in this game after landing on airport, and basten looked quiet angry, who knows why??

[christo85efc]

Originally Posted by dj_fish

and basten looked quiet angry, who knows why??

Maybe he had a bad flight

[downjag]

Originally Posted by aerodinamic

Further news from BBS site:
Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan has been ruled out of Northern Ireland's friendly against Bulgaria at Windsor Park on Wednesday. Craigan is required for club duty in Tuesday's Scottish Cup fifth round replay against Dundee.

Motherwell match is postponed and Craigan is back in the squad. If Berbatov can be starved of good service then I think the Windsor roar will see another home victory, as Northern Ireland don't play friendly friendlies!

[dj_fish]

Originally Posted by christo85efc

Maybe he had a bad flight

hehehe, very possible

[Football-Tipper]

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[aileen_lover]

For Me only one team really good bet ! ENGLAND let 1 ball !

Why ??? "Because of Capello ! I knew him well since Milan became "Dream Team". His father was a soldier in World War II for Italy under Musolini. His adapted the father mental and dicipline. I can say CAPELLO is "Mr. Perfecto " . No matter how team play bad or good only one thing in his mind to WIN the match !

With first time coach England and first game, I don't see Capello gonna play safe here. No draw or lose, Only Win in his mind. Believe me, Capello is the right man on the right place.

So ENGLAND - 1 for me !


Notes : " CAPELLO not like KEVIN KEEGAN. KING KEV IS KING CLOWN, and CAPELLO really the EMPEROR ! ROME EMPEROR ! "

[aerodinamic]

About the England - Switzerland there is one bet for me:
Switzerland not to score.
Yesterday the swiss coach complained about the number of injured players in the team. It is clear that Strasser and Frei are not involved in the game. Both injured.
I can see very little work for the english defence. To note here is the fact that as a first choice goalkeeper David James is fielded. He had amazing performances recently.
Facts are facts. GL to you all.

[aerodinamic]

Further info about Bulgarian game:
The Bulgarian national team once again trained on the reserve field because of the bad pitch of Windsor park in Belfast. Obviously this will affect the game.
Possible eleven for Bulgaria: Petkov (Levski Sofia, Bulgaria)
Zh. Milanov (LS, Bulgaria); A. Tunchev (CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria); I. Tomasic (LS, Bulgaria); M. Venkov (Litex Lovech, Bulgaria);
Stanislav Angelov (Energy Cottbus, Germany); T. Ianchev (CSKA, Bulgaria); Blagoy Georgiev (Germany);
Zdr. Lazarov (Russia); D. Berbatov (Tottenham); M. Petrov (Man City).

[talkabout]

just to let you know that in Serbia there is a lot of mess regarding the national football association since a couple of important members were arrested for irregularities regarding a transfer of a Red Star's player (one of them is a president of that club) well I'll skip that bet anyway 'cause Serbia doesn't convince me for a while already, but thought you should know about it
cheers