Argentina v Italy Betting Preview – International Friendly 23rd March
This should be a pretty interesting contest between two of the giants of international football. Unfortunately only Argentina will be at the World Cup as the Italians had that blow out against Sweden in the play off round. So they are looking to get themselves a bit of confidence back, while it is momentum that Argentina needs.
Argentina v Italy Betting Tips
It was not a great World Cup qualification campaign from the Albiceleste at all. They struggled to put things together as an attacking unit and only Bolivia, who finished second bottom of their CONMEBOL qualification, managed to score fewer goals than Argentina did. But Argentina got across the line after Jorge Sampaoli came in to finish off the managerial job with them in the qualifiers. His inclusion as head coach makes Argentina a fascinating prospect. While he didn’t change a lot in trying to get Argentina over the qualification finishing line, he likes his sides to generally play a more open, attacking game. This will be a test for them against a side who keep the ball away from them, and Argentina lost their last friendly, a 2-4 defeat against Nigeria in Russia last November.
Even though this is a talented Argentina side this will probably be a low scoring duel and under 2.5 goals at bet365 is at 3/5 odds* (Betting Odds taken at 3:31 p.m. on March 19th, 2018). Argentina really didn’t give up much defensively in World Cup qualification so they can hold their own at the back. They are stacked with offensive talent and Lionel Messi is the 21/10* (Betting Odds taken at 3:31 p.m. on March 19th, 2018) anytime goalscorer market for the fixture. Italy have a striker in brilliant form as well this season as Lazio’s Ciro Immobile who is the current Serie A top scorer. However, again with all of the attacking might that could be on show, if either land a victory in this fixture you would imagine that it would be with a clean sheet and both teams not to score is at even money. This game is being played at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.
Italy are W2 D2 L1 in their last five games and they have all gone under 2.5 goals. Their World Cup qualification campaign came to an end with a play off defeat against Sweden so they will be putting their feet up for the summer. Serving as the caretaker head coach is Luigi Di Biagio at the moment, with rumours that Chelsea’s Antonio Conte is favourite to take over full time. Italy will face England on March 27th and are good friendly opponents for the big teams heading to World Cup. The Italians have lost their last two games against Argentina. The two of them have met 14 times before with Argentina 6-3 ahead. This is their first friendly since 2013 when Argentina won 2-1 in Rome.
Argentina v Italy Betting Odds*
Argentina 19/20, Draw 23/10, Italy 3/1* (Betting Odds taken at 3:31 p.m. on March 19th, 2018).
Argentina v Italy Predictions
The draw looks to be a decent option to roll this with. This is on neutral territory between two sides who are generally hard to beat and so there probably won’t be too much to give between them. Will Argentina be that adventurous after their loss against Nigeria last time out? It looks even, back the draw.
