Egypt vs Italy

My chosen game today is the Confederations Cup encounter between surprise package Egypt and surprised package Italy. The World Cup holders have found life in South Africa tough so far, having been made to sweat for a good portion of the game by a feisty and tenacious USA. However, the Italians did eventually manage to break down their opponents when they were reduced to ten men and ultimately made their possession count. Well, who wouldn’t when the God that is Andrea Pirlo is in your side? It has to be said, however – Italy’s performance was not convincing whatsoever. What you have to ask yourself (with the proviso you watched the game in question) is if you honestly think Italy would have won that game against 11 men or not? My answer is no. For that reason, I’m taking under 2.5 goals on this game. I can see both sides keeping 11 men on the field and both are defensive, cautious and efficient sides with some flair but largely rely on tactics. I can’t see either side breaking down the other in any kind of successive period unless one side is reduced to ten men. In fact, the only way I can see goals coming in this game is from individual brilliance, which is certainly possible but unlikely to occur on three different occasions throughout the game. If you forced me to pick up a scoreline, I’d have to go for 1-0 to Italy but I’m really not happy with the idea of handicap or particular scoreline in this game. The only one that does semi-interest me is taking Italy to win 1-0 with Rossi to score the goal at 25/1. The American-born striker has been lively and effective in the tournament thus far and could (and should!) be set for a start in this game.

Thursday’s Picks

My tips:

Despite the varying amount of competitions and games today, there’s only a few bets I like the look of, as is indicated below:

Germany U21 vs Finland U21 – home win with a -1 goal handicap at 4/5. Germany U21 are a good, strong side and the Finns are definitely the weakest side in the group, which is emphasised by their long ball tactics utilised against England U21. Unfortunately for the Finns, most nations are more than adept in dealing with these particular tactics and are more than capable of swiftly and effectively countering them. I think the scoreline will be 2-0 but a higher scoreline isn’t out of the question, especially as it’s beginning to look like the sides that will qualify from this group will do so based on the number of goals they have scored against Finland U21.

Brazil vs USA Brazil to score in both halves at 10/11. USA battled away impressively against Italy to almost cause an upset but if we’re brutally honest, there’s little else to their game. Brazil have large quantities of footballers than can score goals and ultimately be match-winners. Their defensive ineptitude has swayed me from taking them on the handicap so I’m focusing on their good side, which  is obviously goalscoring. I’m also slightly taken by the odds of 5/6 for both sides to score because neither side can defend. However, I really would recommend steering well clear of handicaps and scorecasts on this game.

Egypt vs Italy – under 2.5 goals at 10/11, see introduction for full details.

As ever, any queries/explanations required, feel free to email me at thefootytipster@gmail.com. For the complete picks listing, see below!

Confederations Cup:

USA vs Brazil (8) both sides to score
Egypt vs Italy (7) under 2.5 goals

UEFA European U21 Championship:

Germany U21 vs Finland U21 (8) 2-0
Spain U21 vs England U21 (6) under 2.5 goals

Copa Libertadores:

Estudiantes De La Plata vs Defensor Sporting (7) 2-1
Sao Paulo vs Cruzeiro (7) 2-0

Latvian Virsliga:

Blazma Rezekne vs Tranzits Ventspils (7) 1-1
Daugava Riga vs Dinaburg Daugavpils (6) 1-1
FK Ventspils vs Skonto Riga (7) 2-1

Enjoy your free betting tips!

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