Against All Odds: Brazil and Italy to produce some Swiss Goals

21Mar 2013

Betfair

Brazil and Italy meet for an international friendly in Switzerland tonight and Paul Robinson thinks that viewers tuning into ITV4 at 19:30 could be in for a treat.

Brazil haven't lost to Italy since 1982 and they will want to continue that run to boost confidence ahead of the World Cup in Rio in 2014. 'Big' Phil Scolari is back at the helm but he lost his first match back in charge to England last time and although they missed a penalty, they deserved to lose.

The man that missed that spot kick, Ronaldinho, is absent this evening, as is Sau Paulo's Luis Fabiano. Kaka has been recalled though and they will of course have the services of one of the most highly sought after talents in the form of Neymar.

The goals have dried up a touch for the Brazilians of late, but they haven't drawn a blank in any of their last 10 matches. Marcelo and Thiago Silva are back in the squad and they will certainly bolster the defensive side, however it's three without a clean sheet for the Samba Boys and I have my concerns about their backline.

Mario Balotelli will be the main man to try and exploit them for Italy. 'Super Mario' has found his form again since his move to AC Milan and he has a knack of scoring in the more high profile games. Cesare Prandelli has chopped and changed his forward line of late, but he certainly has plenty of firepower at his disposal if he can find the right balance.

The Italians haven't been keeping clean sheets lately, which is rare for them. They've conceded at least one goal in each of their last four, and aside from the clean sheet at home to Malta in September, you have to go back to the 0-0 draw with a toothless England in Euro 2012 for the previous one.

I'm really not sure why under 2.5 goals is trading as low as 1.87 for this game. Of course we aren't guaranteed to get three goals or more, but there is more than enough talent on the pitch to produce them. It's only a friendly so the pressure is off and I'm hoping the game will flow. At the current odds, I have to make it my lay of the day.