International Friendlies > 2012

[nori]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Today i am going with Albania DNB with PP with odds 2.10, i just cant understand why the odss have risen to be honest, as i certainly rate Albanian team higher tha the qatar one. For this game Albania with have a decent Attack with the experienced striker Erion Bogdani ( Fc Siena) and Edgar Cani ( Polonia Warsaw) who scored his first goal for his country against Georgia in their previous friendly match. In midfield there will be Jahmir Hyka ( Fc Luzern) who has been scoring goals lately for his team, Ervin Bulku ( AZAL Baku), Emiliano Vilaj ( Pas Giannina ), Elis Bakaj ( Chernomerets Odesa), Their captain and their team leader Loric Cana ( Lazio ) who has been playing very good with Lazio in their last few games. Defence will be good also, with Armend Dallku ( VOrskla Poltava), Ansi Agolli ( Qarabag), Andi Lila ( PAS Giannina) and their New reqruit Mergim Mavraj who will be one to watch who plays for ( Greuther Furth). All in one i just cant understand why the odds have risen on Albania, but i certainly cant see Albania loosin this match, but i am taking the safer option DNB with high stakes Prediction 1:0/ 2:0 to Albania. GL ALL

Final Result 2:1 To Albania, and the score could have been even higher for Albania, Bulku hit the post so did cana, and missed few decent scoring opportunities. The lineup didnt look with youngsters to me, there were few new names but they are players that are playing well with their clubs,and will be the future of albanian team. Just cant understand why the odds rised so much on Albania, am very happy as really went with high high Stakes in Albania DNB, hope someone followed me.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Albania AH O 1.63 (Panbet) May be able to get better odds, but I'm not with any of the other bookmakers that have this one. Fairly strong squad for Albania, with the only player that really stands out as a loss is the striker Salihi, although I have to admit I'm no expert on this team. New coach for Albania, with his first game being a decent 1-2 loss at Georgia, where Georgia scored in the 88th minute (a goal I think Pg_Yid remembers :lol) Hopefully they'll be looking to impress the new guy, and continue their development. Albania are a decent side, holding Romania twice and making life difficult for the French in a 2-1 win, two notable performances from the Euro qualifiers. Qatar have a busy schedule of five matches in the next three weeks, the last three matches being important World Cup qualifiers. Their season just finished this weekend, I believe, so I would hope for a pretty downbeat performance from them. Looking at their results they're a very limited side, with their best recent result being a 2-2 draw against the Iranians. This game will be played at Rayo Vallecano's ground.

2-1, as Nori said. Well done to Nori too, on getting such strangely improved odds.

[nori]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

2-1' date=' as Nori said. Well done to Nori too, on getting such strangely improved odds.[/quote'] Well Done to you too Alexc. Next friendly game Albania is playing is on 27th of May against Iran, and will be played in Turkey, in Besiktas stadium. Will study and do some research on that match, as bookies seem to underestimate Albania many times, few months ago i tiped in this forum Albania DNB/+1 at home against Montenegro friendly match, the odds were 21/10 for Albania to win and thats very disrespectful odds for a home team and playing against a team of the same level, and they went and won the game with a score 3:2, i know Iran will be way tougher than the Qatar, but will be looking into some sort of handicap, until then good luck all.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Latvia AH +1 @ 2.02 (Bet365) I'm actually taking them AH + 1.5 @ 1.55, but obviously suggest the +1 for people who prefer larger odds. The following players only joined up today, and so I would of assumed would play a minimal part in the match tomorrow, if at all.

Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Błaszczykowski, Łukasz Piszczek (Dortmund) Wojciech Szczęsny, Dariusz Dudka (Auxerre) Maciej Rybus (Terek Grozny) Ludovic Obraniak (Bordeaux) Damien Perqius (Sochaux) Kamil Glik (Torino). The first two are key, and if their absent I think it'll help this bet, evevn though Poland still have a good squad. The Poles are an improving team it seems, but not the type to put lesser sides to the sword. With it being the first warm-up I'd hope as well that they won't be too fired up yet. Latvia are a silly side. They drew against Kazakhstan in their last game, but gave Croatia a tough time of it in the one before that. Very up and down, but they seem to be more motivated against the better teams, judging from their Euro qualifiers, where my bet would of won in their games at Israel, Greece and Georgia. They play one more friendly after this in preperation for the World Cup qualifiers, so I would hope they'll be taking it seriously too. They have a full squad, apart from veteran striker Verpakovskis.

Poland 1-0, 80 minutes the goal. Happy with that. Combined odds for my two bets at about 2.55 :p Well done, Pg_Yid on yours sailing in.

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Poland 1-0' date=' 80 minutes the goal. Happy with that. Combined odds for my two bets at about 2.55 :p Well done, Pg_Yid on yours sailing in.[/quote'] Thanks, yeah I watched a bit of the game either side of my dinner...it was dull as expected, with Poland seeming marginally the better side. Well done with your two bets as well, let's keep trying to find value with these friendlies.

[MPLouis]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Thanks' date=' yeah I watched a bit of the game either side of my dinner...it was dull as expected, with Poland seeming marginally the better side. Well done with your two bets as well, let's keep trying to find value with these friendlies.[/quote'] I saw a bit of that one too. I thought Poland were the better side, but Latvia threatened too, and most of the game was the two teams cancelling each other out and there were few chances. Excellent value on under 2.5 @ 1.93 in that game pg.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Georgia AH + 1 @ 1.43 (Bet365) Georgia in decent form since their qualifying campaign came to a disappointing conclusion, beating Moldova and Albania. They're a decent side on their day, as shown by beating Croatia and nearly drawing with them in the Euro qualifiers, drawing in Greece and losing with five minutes to go, at home. This is also their only friendly game in the summer, I believe, so motivation should be decent. Turkey have five games coming up and as such will play with a mixture of experience and inexperience, I'd of thought, from a big squad. They lost their first match under their new manager at home to Slovakia, hardly the best start, and I don't think they'll win by two clear here, if at all. Match is in Austria.

[Capricorno]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 El Salvador- New Zeland- DRAW @ 3.35 , 1 unit and multi with Boston ML @6.73 0.5 units This game has 1-1 or 2-2 written all over it. Although El Salvador is ranked #49th on the Fifa rank list (means nothing really) and NZL around 105th I see this as a game that should be very even. The value lies with the draw and hence why I am playing it (I rarely bet draws- mainly Asian handicaps). NZL will be playing their 3-4-3 set up with two DM to break up opposition attacks. This makes me think that the game will be fairly boring. NZL recently drew Honduras and were endged out by Jamaica. I rate the current Jamaican team roughly on the same level as El Salvador.

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Unders is my bet again in the Georgia game. I like to keep unders onside in these friendlies at neutral grounds, if one of the teams involved are defensively minded and the price is close to evens. Here we have Turkey who couldn't really be classed as either an unders or an overs side, but they had trouble breaking down an organised Azerbaijan side twice in the recent qualifiers (1-0 win at home, 0-1 defeat away). In other relevant fixtures they had a 3-0 win against Estonia, but that was at home, and back in 2010 a 2-0 win vs Northern Ireland played in the US (as I recall it was against a very young, inexperienced Northern Ireland team) which ended in a 2-0 Turkey win. Georgia are a very defensive side, with 66% of their games going unders since the end of 2009. Turkey as Alex mentioned have got a lot of games coming up and a big squad, so it is fair to say they will be rotating a fair bit. I would imagine players like Altintop or Turan will be thinking of their summer break now and won't be too motivated for such games without the Euros to look forward to, it is probably the rookie Turkey players who will be more of a threat for Georgia. Haven't been able to find the Georgia squad so have kept stakes low until I do, but I would imagine it will be their normal team playing here in their sole summer friendly. 1.95 with William Hill.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Unders is my bet again in the Georgia game. I like to keep unders onside in these friendlies at neutral grounds, if one of the teams involved are defensively minded and the price is close to evens. Here we have Turkey who couldn't really be classed as either an unders or an overs side, but they had trouble breaking down an organised Azerbaijan side twice in the recent qualifiers (1-0 win at home, 0-1 defeat away). In other relevant fixtures they had a 3-0 win against Estonia, but that was at home, and back in 2010 a 2-0 win vs Northern Ireland played in the US (as I recall it was against a very young, inexperienced Northern Ireland team) which ended in a 2-0 Turkey win. Georgia are a very defensive side, with 66% of their games going unders since the end of 2009. Turkey as Alex mentioned have got a lot of games coming up and a big squad, so it is fair to say they will be rotating a fair bit. I would imagine players like Altintop or Turan will be thinking of their summer break now and won't be too motivated for such games without the Euros to look forward to, it is probably the rookie Turkey players who will be more of a threat for Georgia. Haven't been able to find the Georgia squad so have kept stakes low until I do, but I would imagine it will be their normal team playing here in their sole summer friendly. 1.95 with William Hill.

http://gff.ge/ATeam-en.aspx?newid=2446 Personally a little wary of the unders. I know Georgia are mostly an unders side, but two of their last four have gone over, and how the Malta one didn't, being 1-1 after twenty five minutes. Kind of feels to me like Ketsbaia wants to change things a bit. I also sort of look at Turkey as more over than under. On the flip side, I'm not so hot at picking under and overs :lol

[Capricorno]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

El Salvador- New Zeland- DRAW @ 3.35 , 1 unit and multi with Boston ML @6.73 0.5 units This game has 1-1 or 2-2 written all over it. Although El Salvador is ranked #49th on the Fifa rank list (means nothing really) and NZL around 105th I see this as a game that should be very even. The value lies with the draw and hence why I am playing it (I rarely bet draws- mainly Asian handicaps). NZL will be playing their 3-4-3 set up with two DM to break up opposition attacks. This makes me think that the game will be fairly boring. NZL recently drew Honduras and were endged out by Jamaica. I rate the current Jamaican team roughly on the same level as El Salvador.

PROFIT.... game went as predicted 2-2. Wanted to have a small punt on 1-1 and 2-2 as well, but can't complain :clap:clap

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

El Salvador- New Zeland- DRAW @ 3.35 , 1 unit and multi with Boston ML @6.73 0.5 units This game has 1-1 or 2-2 written all over it. Although El Salvador is ranked #49th on the Fifa rank list (means nothing really) and NZL around 105th I see this as a game that should be very even. The value lies with the draw and hence why I am playing it (I rarely bet draws- mainly Asian handicaps). NZL will be playing their 3-4-3 set up with two DM to break up opposition attacks. This makes me think that the game will be fairly boring. NZL recently drew Honduras and were endged out by Jamaica. I rate the current Jamaican team roughly on the same level as El Salvador.

Excellent pick, I wanted to follow but haven't had much success betting on the draw, so I left it. Well done.

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

http://gff.ge/ATeam-en.aspx?newid=2446 Personally a little wary of the unders. I know Georgia are mostly an unders side, but two of their last four have gone over, and how the Malta one didn't, being 1-1 after twenty five minutes. Kind of feels to me like Ketsbaia wants to change things a bit. I also sort of look at Turkey as more over than under. On the flip side, I'm not so hot at picking under and overs :lol

I would disagree. Ketsbaia has been there since 2009 so I can't see why he'd want to change things now personally. Didn't see the Albania game but in the Greece game Greece needed to win to win the group. They went behind which opened the game up and as I recall they changed things round and threw forwards on. 52% of Turkey's games since World Cup qualifying since World Cup qualifying ended in 2009 have gone under, but that doesn't tell us too much, you need to look at the opponents etc. I think it will be tight tonight.

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 The Croatia-Estonia game looks interesting. Croatia look a bit short @ a best price of 1.22. It seems some of the regulars are being left out of the Estonia side, according to wikipedia, ahead of a busy schedule, which puts me off a bit. But then again you may expect Croatia to rotate a bit as well, in the manner that Poland did earlier this week. 17s looks a big price for an Estonian side which are on the up, who won in Serbia and beat Uruguay in recent times. +2 (AH) is 1.89, only thing that puts me off is the resting of players. Anyone with any information or opinions on this one?

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Georgia AH + 1 @ 1.43 (Bet365) Georgia in decent form since their qualifying campaign came to a disappointing conclusion, beating Moldova and Albania. They're a decent side on their day, as shown by beating Croatia and nearly drawing with them in the Euro qualifiers, drawing in Greece and losing with five minutes to go, at home. This is also their only friendly game in the summer, I believe, so motivation should be decent. Turkey have five games coming up and as such will play with a mixture of experience and inexperience, I'd of thought, from a big squad. They lost their first match under their new manager at home to Slovakia, hardly the best start, and I don't think they'll win by two clear here, if at all. Match is in Austria.

I would disagree. Ketsbaia has been there since 2009 so I can't see why he'd want to change things now personally. Didn't see the Albania game but in the Greece game Greece needed to win to win the group. They went behind which opened the game up and as I recall they changed things round and threw forwards on. 52% of Turkey's games since World Cup qualifying since World Cup qualifying ended in 2009 have gone under' date=' but that doesn't tell us too much, you need to look at the opponents etc. I think it will be tight tonight.[/quote'] Surprised Turkey did the handicap, and at four goals.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

The Croatia-Estonia game looks interesting. Croatia look a bit short @ a best price of 1.22. It seems some of the regulars are being left out of the Estonia side' date=' according to wikipedia, ahead of a busy schedule, which puts me off a bit. But then again you may expect Croatia to rotate a bit as well, in the manner that Poland did earlier this week. 17s looks a big price for an Estonian side which are on the up, who won in Serbia and beat Uruguay in recent times. +2 (AH) is 1.89, only thing that puts me off is the resting of players. Anyone with any information or opinions on this one?[/quote'] If you type in ''*name of national team* football association'' in to google, one usually comes up, though most the time you'll need to ''translate''. Sometimes these sites can be a decent source of info. The Croatian and Estonian don't seem to be giving anything away about this one, fyi.

[MPLouis]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Unders is my bet again in the Georgia game. I like to keep unders onside in these friendlies at neutral grounds, if one of the teams involved are defensively minded and the price is close to evens. Here we have Turkey who couldn't really be classed as either an unders or an overs side, but they had trouble breaking down an organised Azerbaijan side twice in the recent qualifiers (1-0 win at home, 0-1 defeat away). In other relevant fixtures they had a 3-0 win against Estonia, but that was at home, and back in 2010 a 2-0 win vs Northern Ireland played in the US (as I recall it was against a very young, inexperienced Northern Ireland team) which ended in a 2-0 Turkey win. Georgia are a very defensive side, with 66% of their games going unders since the end of 2009. Turkey as Alex mentioned have got a lot of games coming up and a big squad, so it is fair to say they will be rotating a fair bit. I would imagine players like Altintop or Turan will be thinking of their summer break now and won't be too motivated for such games without the Euros to look forward to, it is probably the rookie Turkey players who will be more of a threat for Georgia. Haven't been able to find the Georgia squad so have kept stakes low until I do, but I would imagine it will be their normal team playing here in their sole summer friendly. 1.95 with William Hill.

FT: Georgia 1 Turkey 3 Saw some of this one. Turkey were much better side in the first half and deserved their 2-0 half time lead (they could easily have scored more than two). Georgia put some subs on after half time and looked a lot better, getting a goal back quickly. Turkey scored their third from a penalty near the end. Overall Turkey deserved the win, and they were backed by noisy support in Salzburg. Georgia struggled against the class of the Turkish attack.

[HastGill1]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

The Croatia-Estonia game looks interesting. Croatia look a bit short @ a best price of 1.22. It seems some of the regulars are being left out of the Estonia side' date=' according to wikipedia, ahead of a busy schedule, which puts me off a bit. But then again you may expect Croatia to rotate a bit as well, in the manner that Poland did earlier this week. 17s looks a big price for an Estonian side which are on the up, who won in Serbia and beat Uruguay in recent times. +2 (AH) is 1.89, only thing that puts me off is the resting of players. Anyone with any information or opinions on this one?[/quote'] The Estonia squad looks pretty strong caps wise for this one. Even if they play a weak side the experience level is likely to be good. GK: 9-0, 33-0 DEF: 20-1, 0-0, 76-2, 8-0, 87-1, 31-0 MID: 70-0, 17-0, 71-1, 77-5, 48-13, 41-1 ATT: 59-5, 0-0, 120-36, 36-3, 21-5, 3-0 That's the squad (caps-goals) for this game. Croatia will probably win, Estonia's record away is generally awful until recently, can't really see much in this one. The +2AH is a fair price, but probably wait for teams..

[MPLouis]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

The Estonia squad looks pretty strong caps wise for this one. Even if they play a weak side the experience level is likely to be good. GK: 9-0, 33-0 DEF: 20-1, 0-0, 76-2, 8-0, 87-1, 31-0 MID: 70-0, 17-0, 71-1, 77-5, 48-13, 41-1 ATT: 59-5, 0-0, 120-36, 36-3, 21-5, 3-0 That's the squad (caps-goals) for this game. Croatia will probably win, Estonia's record away is generally awful until recently, can't really see much in this one. The +2AH is a fair price, but probably wait for teams..

Where did you actually find the Estonia squad for the game HastGill?

[malabgd]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Injuries & suspensions Belgium v Montenegro Belgium: Dembele (probably), Van Buyten, Kompany, Vermaelen Montenegro: Jovetic, Pekovic, Novakovic (probably)

[HastGill1]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Where did you actually find the Estonia squad for the game HastGill?

On their Wiki page, the players (squad) selected for the game are marked with an asterisk, from what it says there is a bigger squad then competing in the Baltic Cup..

[pg_yid]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Surprised Turkey did the handicap' date=' and at four goals.[/quote'] Yes this game was not at all how I expected (only watched the first half btw). Contrary to their record, Georgia were pretty attacking. They played a high pressing game, and as such Turkey were able to bypass their midfield quite often, leading them to have a lot of space in dangerous positions. Georgia also committed a lot of men forward in attack, so Turkey were able to counter attack effectively. Perhaps this was because of a change of strategy as Alex suggested may happen, or perhaps it was because Turkey got an early goal, or maybe a bit of both. Overall like MPLouis, I was impressed by Turkey. Georgia, surprisingly, seemed better in attack than in defence. There was a fair class difference between the sides. Turkey's support was also impressive, and I think it lead to a more competitive match than I was expecting. The way the game was played out went against the stats.

[markvighan]

Croatia - Estonia Croatia and Estonia are against each other tonight in this International Friendly match. This match will be played in Aldo Drosina Stadium in Pula of Croatia and in my opinion this must be a huge advantage for Croatia to make a good performance at home and to secure a positive result in front of their supporters. Croatia has to play with everything that they have to get well prepared before the Euro 2012 starts so the coach of Croatia would want full concentration in this match so he can see his team much clearly without making mistakes. Estonia had some improvement lately but still is not enough solid team to play even for a moment in the same level with Croatia. In my opinion Croatia is about to give everything in this friendly match since they know very well that they have to give to their supporters some confidence that the team is doing well and satisfy them at home tonight. In this situation i believe that Croatia would win this match easy and clear so ill take Croatia with handicap.

[LLMB0611]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Be careful with Croatia because it's a friendly and Croatian coach said he will try out the players that didn't play that much for the national team. Still Croatia is a stronger team, and they should win with handicap, but still it's a friendly...

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Lay Russia @ 2.78 (1.56) Uruguay have named their team, and it's a strong one: http://uk.eurosport.**********/25052012/58/euro-2012-matchpack-russia-v-uruguay.html Since they won the Copa America they've maintained their level, winning four and drawing two, including win's in the Ukraine and Italy. Russia can be quite unconvincing against the lesser sides at home, and the Uruguayan's are far from a lesser side. Draw No Bet/AH on Uruguay is close to evens.

[HastGill1]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 I quite fancy Belgium tonight, they didn't qualify for the Euro's and are probably the most underachieving nation in Europe when you see their starting line-up. This is the first match in charge for ex-international Marc Wilmots (who is in charge in a caretaker role) and they have been a few squad drop outs Vermaelen, Van Buyten and Kompany are out as is Dembele in midfield. They might sound like major missings when you consider they are 3 of the best centre backs in Europe (not the best, but some of the best!) but on paper they have great squad depth at the back and will still be able to field a defence of Odoi (Anderlecht) - Alderweireld (Ajax) - Vertonghen (Ajax) - Lombaerts (Zenit), which is pretty staggering when you think about it. Hazard is playing at no.10 tonight, and will likely be joined by Fellaini, Witsel (Benfica) in midfield with Mertens (PSV), Mirallas (Olympiacos) and De Camargo (Gladbach) up front. Montenegro coach has already revealed most of the team for tonight on their website, will play Bozovic in goal, and the defence will be Pavicevic, Baasha, Savic and Jovanovic. In the midfield Drincic another player in the middle, the left wing Volkov, and the right Bećiraj. Upfront Vucinic and Vukcevic behind him. Montenegro are poor travellers generally but for the first time in a year will be fielding a first choice backline. Jovetic (Fiorentina) is missing in attack and is a big miss after such a good season. I would have taken both teams to score otherwise but I think with the new coach syndrome and a strong starting line up Belgium will sneak home, they are strong at home and Montenegro have lost the last 4 away. I'll stick my neck out and say 2-0. Belgium -1AH - 2.1 - Panbet - 5 Points 2-0 - 8.1 - Panbet - 1 Point

[AlanJenkins2]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 Gareth has baled out,Vaughan has vamoosed,and Hennesey has hopped it.No info on Mexico,though.

[Alexc]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

Lay Russia @ 2.78 (1.56) Uruguay have named their team, and it's a strong one: http://uk.eurosport.**********/25052012/58/euro-2012-matchpack-russia-v-uruguay.html Since they won the Copa America they've maintained their level, winning four and drawing two, including win's in the Ukraine and Italy. Russia can be quite unconvincing against the lesser sides at home, and the Uruguayan's are far from a lesser side. Draw No Bet/AH on Uruguay is close to evens.

1-1. Would of been interesting to see what would of happened if Uruguay had lead for more than about a minute.

[MPLouis]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012

I quite fancy Belgium tonight' date= they didn't qualify for the Euro's and are probably the most underachieving nation in Europe when you see their starting line-up. This is the first match in charge for ex-international Marc Wilmots (who is in charge in a caretaker role) and they have been a few squad drop outs Vermaelen, Van Buyten and Kompany are out as is Dembele in midfield. They might sound like major missings when you consider they are 3 of the best centre backs in Europe (not the best, but some of the best!) but on paper they have great squad depth at the back and will still be able to field a defence of Odoi (Anderlecht) - Alderweireld (Ajax) - Vertonghen (Ajax) - Lombaerts (Zenit), which is pretty staggering when you think about it. Hazard is playing at no.10 tonight, and will likely be joined by Fellaini, Witsel (Benfica) in midfield with Mertens (PSV), Mirallas (Olympiacos) and De Camargo (Gladbach) up front. Montenegro coach has already revealed most of the team for tonight on their website, will play Bozovic in goal, and the defence will be Pavicevic, Baasha, Savic and Jovanovic. In the midfield Drincic another player in the middle, the left wing Volkov, and the right Bećiraj. Upfront Vucinic and Vukcevic behind him. Montenegro are poor travellers generally but for the first time in a year will be fielding a first choice backline. Jovetic (Fiorentina) is missing in attack and is a big miss after such a good season. I would have taken both teams to score otherwise but I think with the new coach syndrome and a strong starting line up Belgium will sneak home, they are strong at home and Montenegro have lost the last 4 away. I'll stick my neck out and say 2-0. Belgium -1AH - 2.1 - Panbet - 5 Points 2-0 - 8.1 - Panbet - 1 Point

Result: Belgium 2 Montenegro 2 I saw quite a lot of this game, and on the first half display, I definitely would have backed Belgium. They were superb. Montenegro got an early lead on the break, but after that Belgium laid siege with impressive forward play. It was no real surprise when they equalised or when they got a second from a penalty, so make it 2-1 at half time. The main question was how many more Belgium would score in the second half - I was expecting Belgium to win by 3 goals. But Montenegro came out and attacked in the second half, and instead of hitting them on the counter, Belgium eased off and seemed happy to defend. Complacency? Overconfidence? They paid for it when Montenegro equalised near the end. Belgium were the better side but were punished for sitting on their narrow lead.

[kojic2003]

Re: International Friendlies > 2012 SPAIN - SERBIA (St.Gallen/SWITZERLAND) 18:00 CET Spain will be without the services of Barcelona/Athletic Bilbao players(Copa del Rey Final last night): Iniesta, Xavi, Llorente,...,but one way or another Del Bosque will be able to field a very strong team. Spain(Probable lineup): Casillas (Real Madrid) - Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Jordi Alba (Valencia) - Cazorla (Malaga), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Adrian (Atletico Madrid) , David Silva (Manchester City) - Soldado (Valencia), Negredo (FC Sevilla) On the other hand, Serbia with the new coach(Sinisa Mihajlovic) and some wholesale changes.The likes of Vidic, Stankovic, etc...ain't in the team anymore. Some 19 or 20 players of the current team are below 25 years of age. Mihajlovic has already announced both formation and starting lineup for this clash. Serbia(3-4-2-1): Kahriman (Tavria) - Ivanovic (Chelsea)/Captain/, Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), D.Tosic (Red Star Belgrade) - Basta (Udinese), Radovanovic (Atalanta), Ignjovski (Werder Bremen), Kolarov (Manchester City) - Ljajic (Fiorentina), Djuricic (Heerenveen) - Lekic (Osasuna) Two of three biggest prospects of Serbian football: Darko Lazovic (Red Star Belgrade) and Lazar Markovic (Partizan) will start on the bench(which doesn't look bad at all: Z.Tosic (CSKA Moscow), Matic (Benfica), Jankovic (Genoa), Bisevac (PSG), Tadic (Twente), gk Brkic (Udinese),...).The third biggest prospect - 20-year-old attacking midfielder Filip Djuricic (Heerenveen) will be leading the offensive line from the start. Even though according to some sources he's already signed a pre-contract with Chelsea, 18-year-old Lazar Markovic ( http://www1.skysports.com/transfer-centre/scout/15198/7540650/Sky-Sports-Scout-Lazar-Markovic ) will be the one to watch if he takes the part in the second half.He's dropped in form under Avram Grant in the second part of the season, but considering his potential and the fact that he's rated as the biggest talent of Serbian football in the recent history and generally the biggest prospect of European football, he'll be under the radar of a number of scouts. 18-year-old midfielder Srdjan Mijailovic (Red Star Belgrade), also called up in the national team, has joined Serbia U19 after all. Anyway, considering the class of Spain and the fact that Spanish players are likely to be in better mental as well as physical shape due to upcoming EC in Ukraine/Poland, I guess they're a very likely winners here. Probably something like 2:0, maybe even 3:0 or 3:1 in the favor of Spain, but the price of 1.40-1.45 is simply a pure joke. Serbia have undoubtedlly one of the best defensive lines in the world, if not the best. Subotic, who used to be a mistake-prone player in the national team, became a real rock and is surely one of the best defenders in the game these days.In other words, Serbia are always capable of keeping this match very tight, while there's still plenty of potential to hit Spain on the break.However, due to many changes and with most of the players being for the first time together in the NT, I'm not really convinced that Serbia will be able to pull off the positive result. Also, when it comes to Serbian NT, one of the biggest problems might be more than obvious lack of real, natural forwards. Dejan Lekic (Osasuna) is the only real option, but he struggled with the serious injury not so long ago. He really picked up some great form before this injury, having even scored 2 goals in Osasuna's 3:2 win over Barcelona. This situation forced the football association to contact the ex-Red Star and OFK Belgrade player and father of former Barcelona star Bojan Krkic - who after all might become the part of Serbian NT.