Nothing is at stake in international friendlies. These games are of some importance only when they are used as warm-ups in front of crucial competitions like the World Cup.

Most club managers find these friendlies an utter nuisance. Many of them fight tooth and nail with the country manager by refusing to release their star players. You’ll find numerous cases of players returning with injuries which substantially jeopardised the clubs’ chances in the league and other competitions. The ‘club vs country’ debate will be controversial.

The conventional wisdom is to prevent betting these friendlies since they are looked upon as meaningless. The results are often unpredictable. But a savvy punter may find value within the uncertainties.

The following factors may be considered :

Home Good thing about Intimidating Venue

Countries like Azerbaijian and Kazakhstan, etc. are not the most comfortable places to visit. How do you expect the soccer superstars to enjoy :

Long flights (some countries do not have links for direct flight).

Less than hygienic living environment and food.

Strange customs (especially in the event the country is of a predominantly different religion).

Climate (it cannot be easy to travel long distances from freezing winter in Europe to play in a humid stadium in Turkey on a summer night).

It’s somewhat difficult to expect motivation when the games will be considered meaningless. However, do be mindful of :

The Home team could possibly be more motivated because they are playing for their country in front of their fans.

The game is more prone to be telecast live especially should the Home team is playing a highly ranked Away team like England. Thus the Home team will be super charged-up.

Because of the live telecast, this really is the best opportunity especially for players from an ‘obscure’ country to showcase their talent, hoping to attract the attention of sports talent scouts of big European clubs.

The game is used to restore national pride. Should the country has been thrashed badly by their opponent in a previous game, there can be motivation to treat the game as a revenge fixture.

Don’t expect key players to feature in these friendlies. Most clubs are reluctant to release their star players for anxiety about them returning injured or fatigued. So most players chosen are often your second stringers and quality online gambling agency they themselves might not go all out in order to lessen risk of injury.

When most teams play cautiously, most likely it will be a dull match.

Most punters will be just experienced with the same few famous national teams. Countries which they hardly heard about will automatically be thought to be ‘not good’. On the contrary, as the final results of these friendlies are unpredictable, the smart punter can spot enormous value in some underdogs, especially playing at Home.