Soccer Betting – Juve, Tottenham Bring Power to Int’l Cup

Juventus (+154) vs Tottenham (+170), Draw (+229)

The International Champions Cup doesn’t hold a lot of prestige. It’s widely viewed as a warm-up tournament before the real seasons begin. But the event has drawn a ton of first-class teams this year and they all want to put their best foot forward and build momentum ahead of domestic league action. Tomorrow, five-time reigning Serie A champs Juventus will face EPL runner-up Tottenham Hotspur at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia (6:00 PM Eastern).

This year, 16 teams are taking part in the tournament, divided into three imbalanced groups; Juve and Tottenham are in a group of four, joined by the Melbourne Victory and Atletico Madrid.

Juventus played to a surprise draw against Melbourne in their tournament opener (1-1). The Australians claimed two points after winning on penalties while the Italians walked away with a single point.

Juve may be taking these preseason friendlies a little more seriously than their counterparts. The team is dealing with a lot of turnover from 2015-16.  Gone is striker Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid), and midfielder Paul Pogba already has one foot out the door (destined for either Real or Manchester United). Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado (on loan from Chelsea) likely won’t be back, either.

Morata, Pogba, and Cuadrado were key members of the team last season. Manager Max Allegri now needs to figure out who can assume a bigger role this season as the club tries for a sixth-straight Scudetto.

Facing Tottenham should be a good litmus test. Spurs finished second to Leicester City in the Premier League last season, their highest finish since 1963.

After a relatively quiet transfer season, Spurs aren’t EPL title favorites coming into the year, but will certainly be looking for another top-four finish and berth in the Champions League. The team has a solid core on all lines, led by striker Harry Kane, who scored 28 goals last season.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino will look for youngster Dele Alli to take the next step this year. The 20-year-old scored ten goals in his first EPL season.

Tomorrow’s game will be the first even between these sides. Both teams are in the early stages of their preseason prep. I don’t see either one dominating the play. Taking draw is the best play.

Pick: Draw (+229). 

(Photo Credit: Muhammad Ashiq (Singapore Selection vs Juventus) CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)