World Cup Friendlies 4/06

Ivory Coast v Japan
Slovenia v New Zealand


Friday, June 4

Ivory Coast v Japan

Verdict: Japan will look to continue on from their good showing against England last week. The Samurai Blue were unfortunate to lose 2-1 after taking a deserved 1-0 lead and then putting through their own net twice. The Ivory Coast drew 2-2 with Paraguay four days ago despite dominating large portions of the game. A lack of concentration in the final 15 minutes of the contest costed the Africans but manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, will take heart from the majority of the performance.

On the weekend, Japan showed remarkable improvement from their dissapointing 2-0 defeat to South Korea. They threatened England on numerous occasions with English keepers, David James and Joe Hart, called into action on numerous actions. Ivory Coast's strengths in attack are well known to everyone with the like of Drogba and Kalou leading the line but the same cannot be said of their back line.

Pick: Over 2.25 goals @1.87 (10bet, 10 units)
Ivory Coast 2 - 0 Japan

Slovenia v New Zealand

Verdict: Slovenia will bid farewell to their home fans in Maribor against a New Zealand side that upset Serbia a week ago. The Kiwis went ahead through a well taken Shane Smeltz goal and will take alot of confidence from that 1-0 win going into this game. Slovenia is some what of an enigma at the moment` as they haven't played an official international friendly since March when they defeated Qatar 4-1. What we do know is that Slovenia ousted a very capable Russian side in the qualifying playoffs to book their place in South Africa.

New Zealand manager, Ricki Herbert, has announced that he will start the same team that performed so admirably against the Serbians. Striker, Chris Killen, will not be risked as he is nursing a slight calf strain. Slovenia will be spearheaded by captain, and midfield maestro, Robert Koren. New Zealand have shown they are no pushovers in recent matches, with their performance last week and their narrow 2-1 defeat to Australia a fortnight ago. With a couple of competitive matches under their belt, I expect the Oceania champions to keep this a tight contest in front of the capacity crowd of 12,500 at the Ljudski vrt.

Pick: New Zealand +1.5AH @1.71 (10bet, 10 units)
Slovenia 3 - 1 New Zealand