Home and away: Pot's side to smash hosts ahead of Championships

21Mar 2013

Betfair

Jonno Turner scours the globe for more Home and Away picks...

We're off to Geneva for our first pick of the day, as the Swiss city is the venue for a high profile international friendly - with Brazil facing Italy.

The Brazilians go into this clash under Luiz Felipe Scolari, and he has rung the changes within his squad ever since losing to England back at the beginning of February.

Kaka, Thiago Silva and Luis Guastavo are among the names selected - whereas Ronaldinho and Luis Fabiano are the high profile omissions - and the South Americans will be keen to arrest a slump which has seen them win just one of their last five clashes against the top 10 nations.

This is certainly a squad in transition - but other than those games, the Brazilians have been impressive in recent months. Just three losses from their last 21 exhibition games suggests that they do take these games very seriously, and make no mistake, Scolari will be looking to win this in style.

Indeed, 10 wins from their last 12 games outside Brazil will boost the Yellows, and 25 goals smashed in their last eight outings shows just how lethal they still are in the final third.

Italy go into this one missing defender Giorgio Chiellini - and boss Cesare Prandelli may experiment with his side here.

The Azzuri are likely to stick with Mario Balotelli up top, who has been in cracking form since moving back to the country from Manchester City, and the boss has also brought in Stephen El Shaarawy, Pablo Osvaldo, Sebastian Giovinco and Alberto Gilardino as attacking options.

A loss and a draw with France and the Netherlands in their last two friendlies will have the Italians in dire need of a positive performance here, but they have not beaten their Samba opponents since 1982.

Bet 1: Brazil (HOME) @ 2.14

Staying on the international scene now, as Netherlands U21 travel to face Israel U21 in a friendly.

Cor Pot's Oranje side are one of the most consistent teams at this level, and go into this clash having won their last five competitive outings - with a 3-2 friendly win over Croatia last month boosting confidence in the away camp.

Furthermore, five clean sheets from their last six underlines just how comfortable the Dutch have looked in recent months - and they will be desperate to maintain that positive form in a tricky tie here.

Pot has called up Jetro Willems to the squad and the PSV defender is set to make his debut - one of a number of the Netherlands squad who will be keen to secure his place in the final complement for the big tournament which starts in June.

With the 2013 U21 Championships set to take place in Israel this summer, both of these sides will be looking for a positive performance in order to boost confidence within their respective camps.

The hosts line up in Petah Tivka looking to make the most of this, one of their last friendlies before the Championship - and boss Guy Luzon will be looking to tinker with his squad here.

Israel have played only exhibition games for two years now, and this will be an opportunity for them to show how far they have come under their boss - and they looked handy in a 0-0 draw with Serbia last month.

But the home side will be without key defender Sari Falah, who has broken his foot - and Luzon has intimated just how much his side will miss the ever-present stopper.

They will be looking to the likes of captain Nir Biton, who has been attracting interest from Manchester City, to steer them to a positive result here, but I think that the consistent Dutch will be taking this game seriously as they eye their third U21 title, and will have too much quality for their hosts.

Bet 2: Netherlands U21 (AWAY) @ 1.96