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

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

The conventional wisdom is in order to avoid betting these friendlies because they are looked upon as meaningless. The outcome are often unpredictable. But a savvy punter may find value in the uncertainties.

The following factors can be considered :

Home Advantage of 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 is somewhat difficult to expect motivation in the event 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 might be more very likely to be telecast live especially if the Home team is playing a highly ranked Away team like England. Thus the Home team will be super charged-up.

Due to the live telecast, this really is a great opportunity specifically for players from an ‘obscure’ country to showcase their talent, hoping to attract the attention of online sports agent talent scouts of big European clubs.

The game is used to restore national pride. If the country has been thrashed badly by their opponent in a previous game, there may 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 will often be the second stringers and they themselves may not go all out in order to lessen risk of injury.

When most teams play cautiously, most of the time it’s going to be a dull match.

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