International Friendlies (Feb 2-6)

[Djslutmonkey]

Originally Posted by puntyboy

I wouldnt go lumping into brazil if i were you.... last time we drew nil nil with them in a pretty entertaining match. Its just we do have a pretty good record of getting results against big sides at home, and with this going to be a near full croke park (atmosphere is unreal) Id say ireland could give them a go. I doubt brazil will be too bothered about the outcome of this match....

I'd agree with you if it was a similar team to last time you played them; this is totally different, its young players trying to secure their place in the Olympic squad. Obviously home advantage is a factor, but I fancy Brazil to be up for this game.

Tim Vickery had this to say on the matter....

Republic of Ireland fans are in for a treat this week when Brazil come to town; and the fact that Dunga's squad is not at full strength only adds interest to Wednesday's match.

When Brazil last brought all their stars to Dublin four years ago there was a feeling that they were going through the motions, in a gentle preparation for the World Cup qualifiers to come.
This time Brazil are once more in the early stages of a World Cup qualification campaign.
But for this match their priorities are slightly different and it means that the squad is full of hungry, young players keen to make a name for themselves.
Teenage defender Breno, just snapped up by Bayern Munich, looked pure class in his first season last year with Sao Paulo.
His former team-mate Hernanes is a highly promising central midfielder with a good range of passing.
And then, of course, there is Anderson, who made a brief appearance last year in the Copa America.
Since then he has made a huge impression playing in central midfield for Manchester United, a position where Brazilians did not expect to see him. Will Dunga select him there against the Republic?
So there will be some fascinating experiments taking place and what adds spice to the occasion is that it will not be experimentation purely for its own sake.

What Brazil are seeking to do on Wednesday is build a team for this year's Olympic Games.
The Olympic football tournament may hardly rate a mention in Britain but across the Atlantic it is big news.
Reigning gold medallists Argentina are also fielding an Olympic side against Guatemala on Wednesday.
The tournament is seen as important for two reasons; first, because teams participate with an under-23 squad, which can be bolstered by three over-age players, thus making the Olympics a halfway house towards the next World Cup.
Many were surprised when Brazil's much-hyped team collapsed in the 1998 World Cup final.
Those who had followed their progress could not share the same feeling.
At that point the world champions did not have to go through the qualifying process, so the Olympic tournament was especially important to Brazil, in terms of providing much needed competitive matches.
Then coach Mario Zagallo happily assumed that, blessed with an excellent generation of talent, the Atlanta 96 side would form the basis of his World Cup team.
Their failure to live up to expectations caused the panic button to be hit. Dunga was brought back to provide midfield leadership, even though Brazil were well aware that he was past his best and would struggle to last through to the end of France 98.

The other reason for the importance of the Olympic tournament is the fact, pure and simple, that it is a title. In fact, it is the only title Brazil have never won.
This heaps pressure on the head of the coach.
The last man to accumulate the posts of senior and Olympic team coach was Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
He went to the 2000 Olympics with his back to the wall, reeling from defeats in World Cup qualifiers and off-the-field problems.
After his Olympic team were eliminated by a Cameroon team reduced to nine men, he was sacked. Had he hung on and won the Olympic gold his story may well have turned out very differently.
Perhaps he, and not Luiz Felipe Scolari, would have enjoyed the benefits of a fit-again Ronaldo and taken Brazil to glory in the 2002 World Cup.
These are all reasons, then, for Dunga to hope that Wednesday's game against the Republic will help his team run Olympic rings around the opposition in China later this year.

[friskyfitz]

N.Ireland v Bulgaria.

Im not really interested in trying to predict who will win this one. More, Im seeing this game as one that will have a few goals. Bulgaria should be the stronger side but N.Ireland on their own patch have the means to score a few goals too. I expect this to be a very open friendly with plenty of chances. Much will rely on the fact that Petrov, Berbatov and Popov should start with Healy and Lafferty looking likely to strat up front for N.I

Betfair have over 2.5 @ 2.36 and thats good enough for me considering the front lines, attacking ability and poor goalkeepers on show

[Bazza23]

Croatia is the bet!Cant see anything else then a HW.I cant say much because when youre own team or country plays you just know when they are gonna winn or loose easy.And today Holland will have no chance vs Croatia.I have seen all Holland matches and some of Croatia.And when Bilic says they want to winn very bad, then its a 10/10 on HW.Maybe not the best reasons i give you guys, but i know Holland very good and they will have no chance here.

10/10 Croatia

[friskyfitz]

Austria v Germany

This is by and far the poorest Austrian team of recent years and they are trying to build a team to show in the Euro's ???

Germany are simply much stronger and a lot more ruthless. Austria have failed to show anything in recent games. Austria have Alex Manniger and Emanuel Pogatetz on show too tonight,

Goalkeepers: Alexander Manninger (AC Siena), Christian Gratzei (SK Sturm Graz).
Defenders: Christian Fuchs (SV Mattersburg), György Garics (SSC Napoli), Andreas Ibertsberger (SC Freiburg), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough FC), Sebastian Prödl (SK Sturm Graz), Martin Stranzl (FC Spartak Moskva).
Midfielders: René Aufhauser (FC Salzburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos FC), Veli Kavlak (SK Rapid Wien), Christoph Leitgeb (FC Salzburg), Thomas Prager (SC Heerenveen), Jürgen Säumel (SK Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (FK Austria Wien).
Forwards: Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam Fotball), Roland Linz (SC Braga).

Goalkeepers: Timo Hildebrand (Valencia CF), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal FC).
Defenders: Gonzalo Castro (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Manuel Friedrich (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Roberto Hilbert (VfB Stuttgart), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (FC Schalke 04).
Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea FC), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Jermaine Jones (FC Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (FC Bayern München), Simon Rolfes (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bernd Schneider (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Piotr Trochwoski (Hamburger SV).
Forwards: Mario Gómez (VfB Stuttgart), Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München), Kevin Kuranyi (FC Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach).


Simply put, that is a very strong German team

Germany -1, -1.5 @ 2.23 Betdaq (£2,281 available)

[MartyMcG_1967]

Originally Posted by Bazza23

Croatia is the bet!Cant see anything else then a HW.I cant say much because when youre own team or country plays you just know when they are gonna winn or loose easy.And today Holland will have no chance vs Croatia.I have seen all Holland matches and some of Croatia.And when Bilic says they want to winn very bad, then its a 10/10 on HW.Maybe not the best reasons i give you guys, but i know Holland very good and they will have no chance here.

10/10 Croatia

You got any links to anything Bilic has said mate?
Cheers

[christo85efc]

So i like england and croatia to win, and in my accumulator i put on yesterday in the bookies i went with them 2 and Spain and Germany.

Germany (as Frisky has pointed out) have a very strong squad for this friendly and play with a lot of flair these days, we are used to them grinding results, getting the job done, but now they are quite an attractive team to watch.

Spain vs France is a tough one, hard to call, and with Spains awful record against the French a lot will be backing the away side. Spains squad however is full of quality (could still improve if that annoying man in charge put Arteta in the squad!!!), they have had a few injuries since i put my bet on, however, home advantage could be the vital factor here.

4 fold accumulator pays 11/1

[christo85efc]

Originally Posted by MartyMcG_1967

You got any links to anything Bilic has said mate?
Cheers

See my post on page 2 i think it is mate.

[MartyMcG_1967]

Originally Posted by christo85efc

See my post on page 2 i think it is mate.

Cheers mate, nice write-up good luck with your bet

[~ eric ~]

Dont like the look of Ashley Young on the left and cole & gerrard are going have to get forward into the box.

[tomcockerill]

Originally Posted by 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.

does this mean capello will be changing sides at half time??!

[Djslutmonkey]

Originally Posted by ~ eric ~

Dont like the look of Ashley Young on the left and cole & gerrard are going have to get forward into the box.

Young's been excellent there for Villa this season. Agree about Cole and Gerrard, and not convinced I like Rooney alone up top (assuming media reports about the team are correct), but then with Owen's track record of injuries it makes sense to use him as a super-sub as opposed to having the team depend on him.

[~ eric ~]

Originally Posted by Djslutmonkey

Young's been excellent there for Villa this season. Agree about Cole and Gerrard, and not convinced I like Rooney alone up top (assuming media reports about the team are correct), but then with Owen's track record of injuries it makes sense to use him as a super-sub as opposed to having the team depend on him.

I’ll see how he goes on. For me I wanted Rooney and Owen up front, they are the best strike partnership for England and we can rarely play both of them so why not play them. It’s vital Gerrard and Cole break forward into the box and do what they are good at and let Hargreaves worry about defending the back 4. If they don’t it just wont work and it’ll be exactly like it was under the previous managers, they get frustrated become lacklustre and just play long ball. Hopefully they will play to their strengths get a good result and if they do get side tracked Capello wont stand for it.

[~ eric ~]

Starting line up

James, Brown, Ferdinand, Upson, A Cole, Bentley, Barry, Gerrard, Jenas, J Cole, Rooney.

[misky]

Originally Posted by tomcockerill

does this mean capello will be changing sides at half time??!

[~ eric ~]

Originally Posted by ~ eric ~

It remains to be seen how Fabio Capello will approach the game and how the team will set its stall out, and how the players are going to perform for Capello. I think it’ll be a controlled performance with the aim of having the cutting edge to take the opportunities that come England’s way in my opinion, it’s whether the players have got that cutting edge. Switzerland have some injuries will try and counter attack and will use it as preparation for euro 2008. Providing England is able to execute what capello and the fans expect it could be a good night for England.

Last 5 Home England
21.11.2007 ECQ Group E England Croatia 2-3
13.10.2007 ECQ Group E England Estonia 3-0
12.09.2007 ECQ Group E England Russia 3-0
08.09.2007 ECQ Group E England Israel 3-0
22.08.2007 FRL Friendly England Germany 1-2
Last 5 Home Switzerland
20.11.2007 FRL Friendly Switzerland Nigeria 0-1
17.10.2007 FRL Friendly Switzerland USA 0-1
13.10.2007 FRL Friendly Switzerland Austria 3-1
11.09.2007 FRL Friendly Switzerland Japan 3-4
07.09.2007 FRL Friendly Switzerland Chile 2-1
Last 5 Away England
16.11.2007 FRL Friendly Austria England 0-1
17.10.2007 ECQ Group E Russia England 2-1
06.06.2007 ECQ Group E Estonia England 0-3
28.03.2007 ECQ Group E Andorra England 0-3
24.03.2007 ECQ Group E Israel England 0-0
Last 5 Away Switzerland
25.03.2007 FRL Friendly Colombia Switzerland 3-1
23.03.2007 FRL Friendly Jamaica Switzerland 0-2
07.02.2007 FRL Friendly Germany Switzerland 3-1
11.10.2006 FRL Friendly Austria Switzerland 2-1
16.08.2006 FRL Friendly Liechtenstein Switzerland 0-3

Taking into account 15 out of the last 20 games both sides have played home an away have gone over 2.5 and along with Capello being determined to get off to a good start I have gone with Over 2.5 at 2.18.

2-1 60th minute

[Bazza23]

Originally Posted by Bazza23

Croatia is the bet!Cant see anything else then a HW.I cant say much because when youre own team or country plays you just know when they are gonna winn or loose easy.And today Holland will have no chance vs Croatia.I have seen all Holland matches and some of Croatia.And when Bilic says they want to winn very bad, then its a 10/10 on HW.Maybe not the best reasons i give you guys, but i know Holland very good and they will have no chance here.

10/10 Croatia

Oh yeah it was friendly

[nicko]

Originally Posted by tomcockerill

does this mean capello will be changing sides at half time??!

[adam7982]

For everyone who talked me out of serbia tonight thank u so much .....thanks to you i won.

well done great comments as always guys