International football can be viewed by some as rather mundane and boring but you should try saying that to Sam Allardyce who was recently sacked as England boos after being caught up in a newspaper sting. On the plus side for Big Sam, the former Bolton manager leaves the job with a 100% win rate which is the best figure by any permanent England manager.
Hopefully the action on the pitch will be just as dramatic as it has been off it, and we’ve picked out seven games from across the globe which look like finishing without a clean sheet.
Thursday 6th October 2016
- Ecuador v Chile (4/5 with Bet365) – Juan Antonio Pizzi’s Chile side are one of the most exciting teams to watch in international football and they have been playing some really good stuff lately. They go into this game as favourites and you’d expect them to score, but we can’t see them keeping a clean sheet in Quito.
- Austria v Wales (evens with Bet365) – Wales were the surprise package at the Euros in the summer and they will look to continue that momentum when they travel to Austria. With Gareth Bale in their side you’d always back them to score, but question marks hang over the defence.
- Italy v Spain (23/20 with Coral) – The last time these two played, Roy Hodgson was still the England manager as Italy triumphed in a thrilling game over Spain at the Euros. A repeat performance would be nice but we’ll settle for both sides getting on the scoresheet which can be backed a tempting price.
- Kosovo v Croatia (21/20 with BetVictor) – Kosovo will play their first competitive home international and that emotion and significance should spur them on to put in a good performance here. They will be up against it, but it wouldn’t surprise us to see them nick a goal.
Friday 7th October 2016
- Peru v Argentina (10/11 with Bet365) – Argentina are still adapting to life without Lionel Messi, but with Paulo Dybala and Mauro Icardi pulling up trees in Italy, the future looks bright. La Albiceleste will have to be wary when they face Peru however, as they do have experienced goalscorer Paulo Guerrero in their ranks.
- Holland v Belarus (6/5 with BetVictor) – Holland’s international football nightmare has continued of late as they lost their opening qualifying match against Sweden and we think that they will make hard work of Belarus. Danny Blind’s side should have more than enough quality to see off the Eastern Europeans, but we can certainly see Alyaksandr Khatskevich’s side getting on the scoresheet.
- Paraguay v Colombia (10/11 with Bet365) – Rounding off this week’s list is Colombia’s trip to Paraguay and it could well be a cracker. The home side have a reputation as a fairly dour outfit but some of their recent games have been fairly high scoring and this clash at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco could well be worth a watch.