International Friendlies 1 & 2 June

Friday's game - England vs Brazil

The first international game at the new Wembley Stadium brings probably the world's best side as visitors to the stadium but the pressure will be on them not to show up the hosts too much. In his press conference yesterday Brazilian coach Dunga admitted that he had picked an experimental side and that he wanted to see how some of the more inexperienced players would fare against a side like England. He said that he had told his famous players like Kaka and Ronaldinho to go out and enjoy themselves and not worry too much about the result.

By contrast, Steve McClaren's England would love a good result ahead of their crucial Euro 2008 qualifying clash on Wednesday next week. Realistically though most of the players will treat this as a training contest and be keen to avoid any injuries rather than go all out for the win. Add on the fact that England have generally been dire in their recent international games and they are playing Owen, a striker who has barely played for a year, up front and it is hard to be terribly confident about the home side. There is little evidence that they know how to play as a unit and it is quite possible that the class of Brazil will mean they are badly embarrassed.

The Asian handicap has the two sides pretty much level despite the fact the fixed odds bookies are offering bigger prices about Brazil than England. That suggests to me that the value bet is to back the visitors to win at the fixed odds price rather than the handicap and a one point bet on Brazil at 2.80 with William Hill or Totesport is the advice.

[Brazil drew 1-1]

Check back for Joe's picks on Saturday's games.