Team GB - Brazil Betting Preview: Expect South American superiority in Olympic warm-up

Jul 20, 2012 6:42:00 PM

Stuart Pearce's side step up their Olympic preparations at the Riverside and Adam Bate thinks it will be a tough audition against the Selecao

So after all the politics, hype and speculation, the Great Britain football team finally takes to the park against Brazil.

Stuart Pearce has picked a strong team and tried to sprinkle it with over-age quality all over the pitch by picking Micah Richards, Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy – a right-sided defender, midfielder and left-sided forward.

There are also exciting youngsters such as the Welsh duo of Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey in the middle and home advantage may yet be a factor in this game and the tournament itself.

But Team GB are still underdogs for this clash at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough and can be backed at 3/1 (4.00) to win the game.

That’s a decent price because the fact that this is a scratch side can be overplayed – it’s not as if the Brazil Under-23 team play together week in, week out either.

Familiarity is unlikely to be the reason Brazil may win this game. That could simply come down to quality.

The Brazilians boast formidable frontline options including Neymar, Pato and Hulk and against defences less organised than at club level they will expect to wreak havoc.

They will also be taking this competition - one they have never won - extremely seriously and are led by senior team coach Mano Menezes.

Brazil are duly favourites to win this one at 8/11 (1.73) and the draw is available at 13/5 (3.60).

In the goalscorer markets, Neymar is the favourite to open the scoring and that’s understandable given a strike rate of one in two for the senior Brazil side. He is an industry best 4/1 (5.0) to net first here with Bet365.

For Great Britain, Craig Bellamy is the pick of the options at 9/1 (10.0).

But the value bet is to back Hulk to get the first goal in this one. The 25-year-old has a phenomenal scoring record for Porto and has already netted three times for Brazil this summer.

He’s also likely to keep the punter interested with his shoot-on-sight policy so consider backing Hulk at 5/1 (6.0).

His presence, along with the likes of Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Sandro, Rafael and Leandro Damiao makes Brazil justified favourites to win this warm-up and backing them is the best bet here.

BET

OF THE

DAY

BEST BET

VALUE BET

Brazil to win at 8/11 (1.73) with Bet365

Hulk to score first at 5/1 (6.0) with Bet365

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Adam Bate is a professional freelance journalist who specialises in football and betting. He is editor of GhostGoal which can be found here - you can also follow Adam on

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