Soccer Betting – Italy Host Spain in Euro Tune-Up

Spain (+145) at Italy (+200), Draw (+210)

There was a time, not so long ago, when Spain simply couldn’t beat Italy. On any field, in any tournament, the Italians were the dominant force.  A lot has changed over the last few years and now the Spanish National team looks for their fourth win in a row over the Italians when they meet in a friendly this Thursday at Stadio Friuli in Udine, Italy (2:45 PM Eastern, March 24).

For both sides, this game will serve as preparation for the upcoming Euro 2016 in France. While Italy will have their hands full in Group E against Belgium, Sweden, and the Republic of Ireland, Spain are favored to win Group D over Croatia, Czech Republic, and Turkey.

This will be the first game for the Spanish National in 2016. They won two of their three friendlies last year, beating Costa Rica (2-1), and England (2-0) while losing in the Netherlands (2-0).

Chelsea striker Diego Costa was a surprise omission for Thursday’s game by manager Vicente del Bosque.  Instead of Costa, del Bosque has called upon 35-year-old Aritz Aduriz. The coach may be trying to send Costa a message, especially after the disappointing season he has had in the English Premier League.

Italy won’t have its strongest roster, either, but that’s due to injury. Midfielder Marco Verratti has been struggling with a hamstring injury, and manager Antonio Conte decided to rest the 23-year old PSG playmaker.

The Italians played four friendly games in 2015, but didn’t win any (0-2-2).  They drew against England (1-1) and Romania (2-2), and lost in Portugal (1-0) and Belgium (3-2).

Spain have won the last three meetings against Italy, including a 2014 matchup in the buildup to the Brazil World Cup. Spain’s anomalously bad performance at the World Cup aside, not much has changed since then; the Italians keep struggling to find goal-scorers, while tiki-taka continues to work for Spain.

Pick: Spain (+145).

(Photo credit: Grzegorz Jereczek  (flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)