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

Most club managers find these friendlies an utter nuisance. Many of them fight tooth and nail with the country manager by refusing to release their star players. You will find numerous cases of players returning with injuries which considerably jeopardised the clubs’ chances in the league as well as other competitions. The ‘club vs country’ debate is definitely controversial.

The conventional wisdom is to prevent betting these friendlies since they are looked upon as meaningless. The outcome will often be unpredictable. But a savvy punter may find value within the uncertainties.

The following factors can be considered :

Home Good thing about 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 don’t have links for direct flight).

Less than hygienic living environment and food.

Strange customs (especially should 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’s somewhat hard to expect motivation when the games are considered meaningless. On the contrary, do be mindful of :

The Home team could possibly be more motivated because they are playing for great online football their country in front of their fans.

The game might be more prone to be telecast live especially should the Home team is playing a highly ranked Away team like England. Thus the Home team will be super charged-up.

As a result of the live telecast, this is a good opportunity specifically for players from an ‘obscure’ country to showcase their talent, hoping to attract the attention of sports 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 can be motivation to treat the game as a revenge fixture.

Do not expect key players to feature in these friendlies. Most clubs are reluctant to release their star players for fear of them returning injured or fatigued. So most players chosen tend to be the next stringers and they themselves might not go all out to be able 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 acquainted with the same few famous national teams. Countries which they hardly heard of will automatically be thought of as ‘not good’. On the contrary, as the results of these friendlies are unpredictable, the smart punter can spot enormous value in some underdogs, especially playing at Home.