MARK O’Haire (@MarkOHaire) drew the short straw but has made a decent fist of finding two decent betting opportunities from Wednesday’s friendly internationals.
Denmark v USA | Wednesday 19.15
Jurgen Klinsmann will again take the opportunity to experiment on Wednesday night as USA continue their preparations for this summer’s Gold Cup.
The German has used the post-World Cup fixtures to rest and rotate in a bid to find a new crop of American stars, and that’s led to a return of just two wins in seven.
Team USA will be without Brad Guzan in goal, plus centre-halves Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler as well as captain Clint Dempsey. But there’s still enough attacking talent to suggest the North Americans can play their part in an enjoyable friendly international.
Aron Jóhannsson and Jozy Altidore should spearhead the USA attack with Michael Bradley pulling the strings from midfield. And so we should expect the Americans to add to their record of scoring in 17 of their last 18 internationals when they head to Aarhus.
Denmark are certainly no slouches on home soil. The Red & White have won four of their last six as hosts and have made an encouraging start to their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
However, their friendly form is enough to put me off a straight play on the hosts – the Danes have won just one of their previous five and have now gone 11 games without a home friendly draw.
The hosts enjoy the freedom to attack under legendary boss Morten Olsen. The 65-year-old, approaching 15 years in charge of the national side, has announced he’ll step down next summer, but I fancy this Denmark side to do a little damage over the next 15 months or so.
The Red & White have netted in 10 of their last 11 home friendlies and with USA seeing five of their previous six internationals featuring Both Teams To Score, a repeat of BTTS should be considered at even-money with William Hill on Wednesday night.
Germany v Australia | Wednesday 19.30 | ESPN
World champions Germany meet Asian champions Australia for a friendly encounter in Kaiserslautern on Wednesday night and the hosts should have little trouble collecting a morale-boosting win ahead of their Euro 2016 qualifier against Georgia this weekend.
Things haven’t quite gone to plan for Joachim Low’s side since their World Cup triumph and Die Mannschaft are another side to suffer the hangover effect.
Germany have won just three of their six matches since being crowned, suffering losses to Argentina and Poland as well as being held at home to Ireland and scraping past Scotland.
A friendly win against Spain last time out will have given the Germans a timely reminder of their talents and they should be good enough to put away an Australian side that’s missing the influential Tim Cahill in attack.
The Socceroos are making their first appearance since securing their Asian Cup silverware in January and able goal-getters in Cahill’s absence are thin on the ground.
Still, Ange Postecoglou’s vibrant young squad will show no fear in Kaiserslautern and could play their part in another decent Germany-Australia spectacle on Wednesday night.
The last three meetings between Germany and Australia have featured 14 goals and Die Mannschaft’s friendly fixtures normally end in feast or famine. Six of Germany’s previous 11 friendlies have featured Over 3.5 Goals with the other five internationals producing two goals or fewer.
I’m going to invest my faith in the former and take Germany to win and Over 3.5 Goals at 11/8 with Betway. Going back to 2010, Germany’s friendly record reads W10-D10-L6 which hardly inspires but they’re coming up against an Aussie team that have W3-D2-L8 in their non-competitive fixtures in the past 18 months with victories secured against Saudi Arabia, Canada and Costa Rica.
Best Bets
Denmark v USA – Both Teams To Score (1/1 William Hill)
Germany v Australia – Germany to win and Over 3.5 goals (11/8 Betway)
3/1 Germany To Beat Australia
Betfair are offering new players a staggering 3/1 on Germany beating Australia on Wednesday night. The actual odds are 2/11 so that’s a huge difference in price.
TOPICS Football International Football Tips
