England v Ghana International Friendly Betting Odds – Visitors backed strongly

England boss Fabio Capello has rung the changes for the side, as they step out at Wembley on Tuesday to face Ghana in an international friendly. After coming through their test in Wales on Saturday with comfort, it will be time for Capello to field some of the reserves who are competing for a starting place. England eased to a 2-0 victory in front of a sell out crowd at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday in their Euro 2012 qualifier, and while England played very well, only one criticism would be that they were not ruthless enough in going on to score more goals. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day though was England’s formation which Capello set up. Known for being rigid with his 4-4-2, the Italian broke free and fielded a starting 4-3-3 formation, with Scott Parker doing the holding in midfield. This worked a treat as it allowed Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Frank Lampard freedom to get forward, adding extra force to England. Aston Villa’s Ashley Young was another bright spark in the new formation, earning a penalty and setting up the second goal for team mate Darren Bent to knock in from close range. England may have just found their new starting winger, and after a week of negative press surrounding the captaincy of the national side, England were finally drawing applause for the way they played. Now the Wembley fans will be able to see how the second string will fare against their African opponents, as Capello released players from the squad, back to their teams for a rest.

With big Champions League matches coming up, the England boss very cordially let Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and John Terry sit this one out, along with Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and Tottenham’s Michael Dawson. Capello had to of course pick another new captain after letting Terry go from the squad, and the captain’s armband has been passed to Manchester City’s Gareth Barry, who held it briefly when England played in Denmark last month. Barry will come into the middle of the park along with the impressive Scott Parker, who really took his big chance to nail down a place in the side. The West Ham man, who many believe is in the running for footballer of the year awards, really slotted effortlessly into the side. There are also starting places for Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, along with Liverpool’s Andy Carroll up front, as Capello looks to his reserves to show their hunger and level of competition for places in the main starting eleven. In total there are going to be seven changes to the starting eleven for England. The back line is the most changes, with Jagielka partnering Gary Cahill in the centre, and Baines taking the left back spot from the rested Ashley Cole. So, this could take a bit of the string out of this match, as it is a test which really offers something different for Capello’s men. The African sides, Ghana in particular, play their football at pace and like to keep the ball on the deck. However, it is a test which really isn’t going to serve England in any other way apart from giving youngsters like Jack Wilshire and Andy Carroll some big international match experience. With the focus on Euro 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine, the Ghana style of football is something which England is going to come up against competitively in the foreseeable future.

It is an international friendly match nonetheless, and the players involved will want to make their points, and their respective managers will hope they come through the match unscathed. As shown in their run to the 2010 World Cup quarter finals, Ghana like to attack. However, Ghana lost on the weekend, going down 1-0 at home to Sudan, as qualification for the 2012 Olympics began across Africa. Ghana did create a lot of chances in the match, but they just weren’t sharp enough in front of goal, and suffered a late stoppage time goal. Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan and Chelsea’s Michael Essien are of course, the two most familiar names to English football fans, and while Ghana will be facing something of an England B-team, it is time to weigh up your betting options on this match. As with most international friendly matches, they aren’t always spectacular match, and you generally looks towards a draw a little bit more than you would in a competitive match, and that is probably the best place to go to for your football betting on this historic match. England will surely be a little bit disrupted with the changes, and with players looking to book their places in the team, and Ghana, who like to attack, will provide much better opposition than Wales did for England on Saturday. Ghana can play nice football and aren’t afraid to break forward with speed. That is one area in in which you would expect them to have the edge, but England should still play a pretty efficient game.

That’s why there is a good chance of a draw happening here, but to kick things off, there is a great price of Evens on England -0.75 Asian Handicap at Stan James which is worth looking at if you are backing England to win this one. Better value than the outright odds, and it pays out a half win if England win 1-0. Oddly enough, punters are swinging the other way, with 50% of Asian Handicap bets going on Ghana -0.5 for 19/5 at Bet365. Ghana are also taking 53% of all betting going down on the outright market for a win (with England taking just 34% on the win) so there is heavy leaning towards Ghana getting a result here. The outright draw odds is decent value in itself and should be considered.