Australia v Costa RicaSaturday, August 6
Australia U20 v Spain U20
Spain joined hosts Colombia and other fancied pre-tournament favourites into the Round of 16 following a 2-0 win over a valiant Ecuadorian side. Goals by Real Madrid loanee, Sergio Canales, and a converted penalty by Alvaro Vasquez sealed Spain's participation in the knock-out stages, following a first round 4-1 win over Costa Rica. Australia sit third in the group following a narrow 2-3 loss to Costa Rica. The brilliance of much coveted, Joel Campbell, proved to be the difference with a two-goal brace. Despite sitting on a single point following the 1-1 draw against Ecuador, Australia can progress further in the tournament with even a draw against Spain (regarding that Ecuador don't defeat Costa Rica in the other game today).
With a +7 goal (and 3pts) difference on second placed Costa Rica, it will take an incredible turn of events for Spain to be displaced from the top of the table. Taking this in to account in addition to the fact that some key players (including Rodrigo and Fernando Pacheco) are sitting on yellow cards, we can expect a much changed Spanish outfit in this match. In contrast to their first game where they were thoroughly outplayed, Australia did themselves proud against Costa Rica and were perhaps a little unfortunate not to get anything from the game. Captain, Ben Kantarovski, is suspended for this match which is probably not a bad thing as he was desperately short on match fitness. The inclusion of Amini and Ibini, for the second half against Costa Rica, turned the game for Australia and I expect at least one of these two to be in the starting 11.
Spain can perhaps consider themselves a little lucky to be sitting so handsomely at the top of the group. The 4-1 scoreline against Costa Rica was certainly not a fair reflection of the game while the 65th minute sending off of Ecuadorian midfielder, Ona, swayed a tight scoreless game in their favour. Australia improved in leaps and bounds on their abject performance against Ecuador and if they can provide a similar performance against a much-changed opposition, we could see an upset.
Pick: Australia +1.5ah @1.84 (ibcbet, 10 units)
Australia 1 - 5 Spain
Wednesday, August 3
Australia v Costa Rica
Qualifying as Runners' Up of Asia, Australia meet the second best team in the CONCACAF region, Costa Rica. Following the first round of matches, Australia sit in 3rd position of Group C with 1pt while Costa Rica lie at the bottom with 0pts. The Aussies can consider themselves very fortunate to gain a share of the spoils, against Ecuador, after been outplayed for large portions of the game. A very late wonder goal from Australia startlet, Tommy Oar, saved Australia's blushes as they earned an undeserving 1-1 result. Costa Rica were not so fortunate against one of the pre-tournament favourites, losing 4-1 to Spain. Two defensive errors by the young Ticos gifted Spain a 2 goal lead before substitute, John Ruiz, pulled one back for the Central Americans. Costa Rica then proceeded to dominate the game and were only denied an equalizer by the width of the crossbar before Spain added two goals to put a flattering look to the scoreline.
Australia manager, Jan Versleijen, who was also in charge of the U17's who failed to live up to expectations in Mexico, made some very baffling team selections in the first game against Ecuador. He has been criticized widely by experts in the Australian footballing circles and this looks like another campaign doomed for failure. Apart from the first quarter of an hour, Costa Rica was extremely impressive against European powerhouse, Spain. Led by the much sort after, Joel Campbell, the young Ticos are very impressive going forward and should punish an extremely poor Australia defence. Australia do have some impressive individuals such as Oar, Amini, and Petratos, who may very well find the net, but there is no team cohesion or clear game plan under the tutelage of Versleijen.
Picks:
Costa Rica DNB @2.05 (bet365, 10 units)
Australia 2 - 3 Costa Rica
Over 2 goals @1.75 (bet365, 10 units)
Australia 2 - 3 Costa Rica
No comments:
Post a Comment