3/22 Recap: Who says friendlies can’t be entertaining? I was plenty entertained by the proceedings yesterday, even if one of my picks didn’t go as planned. In retrospect, I probably should have gone with some sort of a prop in the U21 match as both teams played it close to the vest spare a ten-minute spell in the middle of the second half. As for the late game, it seemed like another dud until everything went haywire. Panama’s leading scorer, Blas Perez, was sent off. After each side saw some more color from the referee, Pione Sisto found the net. It wasn’t a rocket, but his far post finish through traffic took the game up a notch. It ended on my predicted score, always a joy, but didn’t feel like a 1-0 game in the end. Two cross-continent countries made you care about a “nothing” game.
While some club competitions return today, I’m sticking to more of these cross-continent matchups in the friendly pool. I’ll do one for teams going to Russia in the summer, and one with at least one team staying home. Except for this time I’m going with two senior side contests. Those young’uns were too tough to predict.
3/22 Results:
My Picks: U-21 Italy 2 U-21 Norway 1 (U-21 Italy MONEYLINE [-225])
Denmark 1 Panama 0 (Panama +1.5 [-125])
Actual Results: U-21 Italy 1 U-21 Norway 1
Denmark 1 Panama 0
So without further ado, let’s get friendly…again.
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
Egypt vs Portugal (3:45 PM ET/ESPN3 USA, WatchESPN)
This first cross-continent matchup is between two teams heading into Russia with some momentum. Egypt may have the most in-form player in the world right now in Mohamed Salah. Portugal, however, is coming off their first major tournament victory ever at the 2016 Euros. And they have a guy you may have heard of, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has pretty much taken over the Champions League at Real Madrid.
With that being said, neither Salah or Ronaldo are guaranteed to go the distance in this one. Both will certainly feature, but with crucial games in both the league and Champions League for both, as well as the World Cup, these nations can’t have star blood on their hands. But it won’t just be these two duking it out. Egypt and Portugal are going to run out some really strong sides.
The game will be played on neutral ground in Zurich, Switzerland. I don’t know what that means in terms of the spread (per Bovada) fully, but it looks as if it hasn’t dampened the sentiment that Portugal is going to win.
I am really looking forward to this match. Seeing Salah and Ronaldo go toe to toe is something I want to see more than once this year (UCL semis/finals maybe?) on the footballing calendar. To be honest, if this game was in Portugal, I’d probably go for the draw. But with plenty of neutrals looking for a show from CR7, the Selecao das Quinas deliver but not without a Salah appetizer.
PREDICTION: Portugal 2 Egypt 1 (Both teams score [+120], Over 2.5 total goals [+125])
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
Argentina vs Italy (3:45 PM ET/beIN Sports USA, beIN Sports Connect, fuboTV, iGol)
If I am going to take Ronaldo’s Portugal in my first cross-continent selection, why wouldn’t I go with Messi in the second?
Lionel Messi’s Argentina takes on Italy at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester this afternoon in what is the true showcase match of the friendlies this weekend. You can make a case for Germany vs Spain or even the above matchup, but for my money, Argentina going to Europe to take on Italy is the best of the bunch.
And while as I stated yesterday Italy is rebuilding after missing out on Russia, they are still a strong side at the back. They have regularly shut down some of the most high powered offenses on the planet. Whether it is Donnarumma or Buffon in goal, the Azzurri will have a bonafide world-class shot-stopper between the sticks.
But while the game is in Manchester, two of the potential selections for Argentina make this a quasi-home game for the Albiceleste. Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Otamendi will see the field at some point in this game and should have plenty of support behind them. If support is needed when you have the best player on Earth. But I digress. This is technically a neutral site match, but I don’t see it playing out as such.
**LATE EDIT** Messi may not start or even play in the match due to muscle fatigue, so I’ve taken my Messi score bet out.
PREDICTION: Argentina 2 Italy 0 (Argentina -0.5 goals [EVEN])
If you have any games you’d like me to pick over the week you can contact me on Twitter @TREVORutley. In addition to the available media listed for each game, be sure to try out our Gameview service while watching as well. Also, here is a link for my results throughout and the points system. Cheers!