The Gamblers Corner - International Friendlies

However, there's value for money around this week and punters need not be scared of that daunting international section on livescore. All of us football gamblers have had harrowing experiences with Asian or African qualifying games at some stage (Special mention for Morroco and Ethiopia). This week let's embrace European internationals and hunt for value.

I've put together a nice little treble that I'm extremely confident about.

First up we have Ireland(-1) at 10/11 with Paddy Power. Ok so Latvia aren't a terrible side but with the optimism surrounding the new appointments and considering that Latvia have just a handful of players playing in elite leagues, Ireland should have too much for them. I can see it being 2 or 3 nil with Robbie Keane getting a few as always. Latvia didn't win one game away from home in qualifying and Ireland are simply a far superior side.

Next we have Cristiano Ronaldo to score anytime against Sweden at 4/5 with PP. I can't believe this price. It's absolutely superb value. Ronaldo is an efficient well-oiled machine and as Juventus recently found out, not even the meanest defences in Europe can cope with him. Sweden won't be able to deal with him either. He has 16 league goals in 13 league games if anyone needs a statistic to back up their selection.

Last but not least we have Turkey (-1) against Northern Ireland, again with PP at odds of 10/11. If you've been watching Northern Ireland this year you'll know that most of the time they are appalling. It's not that they have particularly bad players but they just seem to really struggle to adapt to international football. Turkey have an impressive squad backed up by the domestic league which is growing in stature ( Galatasaray, Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce excelling in Europe in the last couple of seasons). We can't really say the same for Linfield, Glentoran or Portadown now can we? If you're a brave man you'll take Turkey (-2) at 12/5.