The manager of the Wales football team, Craig Bellamy, says that if his side’s friendly game against England were a boxing match it wouldn’t be allowed – so wide is the strength and player-value gap between the squads.
If that’s what the boss says about his own team, punters will avoid any fanciful notions of a big upset at Wembley in London on Thursday.
Priced at 11.00 for the win, versus England at 1.26, Wales are the biggest outsiders taking the field in friendlies being played around the world this week, most of which look one-sided: Romania 1.32 v Moldova 9.00, Poland 1.46 v New Zealand 6.60, Korea 5.60 v Brazil 1.52 and Russia 1.45 v Iran 7.80.
Variety of options
There are a wide variety of options to take advantage of such unequal match-ups, such as under/over on total goals scored, handicaps on 1X2 and winning margins.
The correct score is a quick and easy bet to go for. Betway’s odds range from 0-0 at 11.00 right through to 4-4 at 101.00.
The bookmaker has 2-0 to England as the most likely result, at 4.70. A 2-1 outcome is 7.60, while 3-0 can be had at 6.00.
Betting on goals scored
This analysis might prompt some bettors to go for total goals scored: 1.5 over 1.22 under 3.80; 2.5 over 1.70 under 2.03, and 3.5 over 2.75 under 1.40.
Also taking a cue from the favoured score, a 1X2 handicap of two goals has the draw as the most likely outcome at 4.00 – with England at 3.10 and Wales at 1.97. The latter might appeal to anyone with a soft spot for the Welsh and their charismatic manager.
Justifying his decision to seek out a daunting friendly against England, Bellamy declared, “You never learn more than when you get your ass kicked.”
That pearl of wisdom applies equally to punters.
All odds correct at time of writing and subject to change.
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