Germany v Czech Republic
Wednesday 11 November, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Red Button
They put us through the ringer, but St Albans came through for us in the end, as they came from behind to beat the bottom side Braintree 2-1 in National League South to land last night’s bet. Next time I visit the Roman Museum, I can do so with a spring in my step.
Now for something altogether more glamourous, as Germany take on the Czech Republic in their latest friendly. The recent “test matches” for Die Mannschaft have been pretty crazy affairs, and I think tonight’s game in Leipzig could be similar.
Joachim Loew’s continued presence as Bundestrainer will hinge on whether his new-look team can play convincingly at the Euros next year in a group that features France, Portugal and a playoff winner. He has some nagging issues to deal with ahead of that tournament. His side continues to give away preventable goals – their only clean sheets in the last nine games were against Estonia and Belarus, and two of their last three matches have ended 3-3. There is also the continued controversy over Loew’s decision to forcibly end the international careers of Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels and Thomas Müller, with the latter playing arguably some of the best football of his distinguished career.
Ahead of this game, it’s worth noting how many players will be missing. None of the Bayern contingent will feature, while Toni Kroos and Timo Werner have also been left out. Youngsters like Felix Uduokhai and Ridle Baku are expected to make their senior debuts, as is the more experienced Philipp Max, who has made an excellent start to life at PSV.
The Czech Republic have qualified for next year’s finals, and although they have suffered two recent defeats to Scotland in the Nations League, they have been showing they can perform well away from home. In 2020 they have won in Slovakia, Cyprus and Israel, scoring at least twice in all three of those victories.
The Czechs won’t be as weakened as Germany, and they can play their part here with a goal or two. There are a couple of ways we could play this – I’m not confident enough in a totally experimental Germany line-up to back them for the win outright, but we can back them to avoid defeat, for there to be at least three goals and for both teams to score at 2.11 on the Sportsbook’s Same Game Multi. If you want something more simple, you could back Over 3.5 Goals at 2.3211/8, but the former does keep a 2-1 home win in the portfolio.
Source: Betfair German
