Friendlies

[Lorric]

I see Iran beat Nicaragua 1-0.

@mspm89 did you watch this game? What did you think of Iran if you did?

[mspm89]

I see Iran beat Nicaragua 1-0.

@mspm89 did you watch this game? What did you think of Iran if you did?

AFAIK it wasn't televised, just like that friendly against Qatar.

[Lorric]

I see Iran beat Nicaragua 1-0.

@mspm89 did you watch this game? What did you think of Iran if you did?

AFAIK it wasn't televised, just like that friendly against Qatar.

I had a look at the stats and it was surprisingly even. Thanks for replying.

[mspm89]

I had a look at the stats and it was surprisingly even. Thanks for replying.

Yep, sports media here echoed that, but I didn't mention it because I believe you shouldn't look too much into it. Of course our NT has improved, but I'm pretty sure we showed more intensity than the Iranians (it was more of a "marquee" match for us than for them), and it was behind closed doors for some obscure reason.

[wannabeontop]

Anyone has odds for all those friendlies that are coming up? I'm particularly interested in Hungary-Greece.

[Ed]

Anyone has odds for all those friendlies that are coming up? I'm particularly interested in Hungary-Greece.

I can tell you that HUN-GRE has a elo win expectancy of 0,786 which corresponds with Win/Draw/Lost-probabilities 66-20-14.

[SimonB]

Many international friendlies taking place today and the following two days.

Some are final warm up games involving world cup teams (interestingly England are one of those deciding not to have any - we will see whether this is a good idea soon I suppose), but there are also others where neither team is playing in the world cup.

Also, there are some club friendlies coming up, for example Arsenal have organised matches against AC Milan and Lyon in December. We hear a lot players needing a break, and as soon as some players appear to have one clubs and countries seem to race to fill the void with more matches.

[NederPAOKtzis]

True @SimonB but the needs of players do not match with the needs of the clubs and national FA's. Players are (heavily paid) toys/puppets.

[AnelZ]

FK Zeljeznicar also organized a friendly after a long time. We will play on 29th November against Konyaspor from Turkey on Grbavica stadium in Sarajevo. Two players of Konyaspor are former Zeljeznicar players (Ibrahim Sehic and Amir Hadziahmetovic)

[Tazmania]

An entertaining game in Tirana which saw Italy beat Albania 3:1; both teams played well.

[Lorric]

I thought Germany would smash Oman, but only 1-0. Tunisia beating Iran 2-0 is nice to see. Other noteworthy results, Sweden beating Mexico 2-1, Croatia 1-0 over Saudi Arabia, and Argentina smashing UAE 5-0.

[wannabeontop]

Anyone saw Poland-Chile in its entirety? How did Poland do? I only saw the goal. Nice atmosphere for a friendly. Eastern Europe

[SimonB]

I see that Ghana have defeated Switzerland 2-0 in an early kickoff match today. Seems a little surprising, but I know nothing about the match except the score and the starting players. Obviously there is a danger of trying to read too much into friendly results.

[Lorric]

I see that Ghana have defeated Switzerland 2-0 in an early kickoff match today. Seems a little surprising, but I know nothing about the match except the score and the starting players. Obviously there is a danger of trying to read too much into friendly results.

It's very surprising to me. Look at Ghana's recent results:

https://www.eloratings.net/Ghana

I was expecting them to just be fodder at this World Cup. I saw them in qualifying, they were blunt up front.

[Lorric]

Canada beat Japan 2-1, great result for them.