It’s a busy weekend in the footballing world as the 32 teams set to compete in next month’s World Cup complete final preparations before heading to Brazil. Between Friday and Sunday, a total of 24 international friendlies will take place around the world with a few of particular interest.
We’re keen to see how Mexico v Ecuador plays out given that both sides will feature in Brazil, while Germany v Cameroon and Portugal v Greece promise to be just as fascinating. For the record, we’re leaning towards the home side in all three.
Sweden just missed out on qualifying for the Cup but will provide a stern test for Belgium, while Russia travel to Norway, Italy hosts Ireland and France plays Paraguay.
The Marc Marquez show heads to Mugello in Italy as the Spaniard looks to make it an incredible six wins from six starts in 2014. Once again it’s hard to see anyone beating him so dominant has he been although keep an eye on Valentino Rossi who will be keen to at least put up a fight in his home GP.
Cricket’s Indian Premier League reaches its conclusion over the weekend with the semi-finals set to be played out in the coming days. Kings XI Punjab, featuring the likes of Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell and George Bailey and Kolkata Knight Riders with Gautam Gambhir, Jaques Kallis and Vinay Kumar will play off for a spot in the final, with the loser to take on the winner of the “eliminator” match between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians for the other finals berth.
And the French Open continues on following a series of shock results in the first round. Already gone are the likes of Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, Tommy Haas and Nicolas Almagro from the men’s draw while China’s Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki are gone from the women’s.
Good luck and good punting.
