Soccer Betting – Azzurri Face WC Champs Germany in Friendly

Italy (+320) at Germany (-118), Draw (+240)

Things didn’t go as planned for Germany on the weekend, letting a two-goal lead slip in a friendly with England (3-2). The world champs will have an immediate chance to right the ship this afternoon when they host Italy at Allianz Arena in Munich (1:45 PM Eastern).

Germany are favored to win the 2016 Euro in June, but lately, they’ve looked beatable. The 3-2 setback to England was just the latest instance. The team has now dropped three straight friendlies, and three of four (all competitions).

“All in all I can say it is absolutely annoying for a coach to see [his] team squander a 2-0 lead,” German manager Joachim Low said.

Toni Kroos and Mario Gomez scored for Germany.

Italy isn’t facing the same pressure as Germany; the Azzurri are undergoing something of a rebuild and will head into the Euro with low expectations. Like Germany, the Italians haven’t won a friendly in a while, going 0-3-2 in the last five.

Last week, they drew against Spain, 1-1, in Udine. Lorenzo Insigne had the lone tally for the home side. Italy looked stronger throughout most of the match and only the heroics of Spanish keeper David De Gea kept it level. Though the win would have been nice for a young Italian squad, outplaying a powerhouse like Spain gives them something to build off, regardless of the scoreline.

If Italy can muster the same caliber of scoring chances against Germany, they’re likely to find the net more than once; Germany will be without star goalie Manuel Neuer, who is dealing with an illness.

The Germans need to put in a better performance than they did against England in order to feel confident heading into the Euro. I expect them to outplay the younger Italians from start to finish and end their current slide.

Pick: Germany (-118).

(Photo Credit: Steindy (UTC) (Own work) CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)