Sports Blog 26/05/2016: International Friendly Preview – England vs Australia, Friday 27th May 2016

Following a narrow victory over Turkey can England’s winning form continue when they meet Australia in their latest Euro 2016 warm-up on Friday?

Both of England’s leading lights scored last Sunday, a 3rd minute Dele Alli-assisted opener from Harry Kane (who then went on to miss a penalty in the second half) joined by a late strike from Jamie Vardy. Yet whilst that gave Roy Hodgson’s side a 2-1 win over Turkey, the game itself raised just as many questions at the back as it did things to celebrate going forward.

In terms of Friday’s game at Wembley Hodgson looks set to make more than a few chances as he tries to decide who to take to the Euros a couple of weeks. Jamie Vardy will be missing after getting married mid-week, while the England manager has spoken about giving Harry Kane a rest following his intense season for Tottenham. Daniel Sturridge also looks likely to miss the match thanks to the same knock that kept him out of the win over Turkey, with questions over his fitness making him a prime candidate for the chop before the team travels to France.



The absence of those players gives Wayne Rooney and Marcus Rashford a chance to assert themselves having missed Sunday’s friendly due to the FA Cup final. Despite being captain, and the country’s top scorer, Rooney has a lot to prove on Friday. Whilst his position in the final squad is effectively guaranteed, there are many people out there who don’t think Rooney deserves to start in France, his lacklustre showings for Manchester United sitting in stark contrast to the stellar seasons seen by Vardy and Kane. Rashford, meanwhile, is the wild card of the provisional England squad, and will be looking to make his mark in his international debut before Hodgson culls 3 players ahead of the competition.

While England prepare for Euro 2016 Australia are already deep into their World Cup 2018 qualification campaign. The Socceroos have already breezed through the 1st group stage, with 7 wins (and 29 goals scored) joined by a surprise defeat at the hands of Jordan. They now have what should be a slightly tougher 2nd group stage to look forward to in September, the Aussies matched with Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Thailand.

England’s recent friendly form has been a mixed bag. Losses to Spain and Netherlands (both sides perhaps past the peaks they hit a few years ago) were joined by that recent win over Turkey and victories against world champions Germany and a shell-shocked France. The Aussies are arguably the weakest side in that run of friendlies, meaning our Spreadex traders are anticipating a strong, and important, home win, offering an England/Australia Goal Supremacy spread of 1.75-1.95 with a Total Goals spread of 3.05-3.25.

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