International Soccer: Mexico vs. Bosnia

International ‘friendlies’ continue as teams get ready for the World Cup which begins later this month in Brazil. We’ll take a look at a Tuesday matchup between Mexico and Bosnia that will be played in Chicago. Both teams have qualified for the World Cup–in Bosnia’s case it was something of a surprise and they’ll be the only first time entrant in this year’s tournament. Mexico typically has a good but not great team and that looks to be the case this year. They’re currently ranked #19 in the FIFA International Rankings.

Working in Mexico’s favor–they may be playing their best soccer of the year heading in to the World Cup. They were life and death to qualify at all but they’ve looked very dangerous since beginning exhibition play. In two previous exhibition contests they beat Israel 3-0 and followed that up with a 3-1 win over Ecuador. They’ve got an advantage over many of the teams they’re facing in warm up play since they’ve got their best lineup already worked out while many of their opponents are still tinkering with the roster trying to find out what works the best. The Mexican team got some bad news in the Ecuador game when Luis Montes broke his leg and is ruled out of World Cup play. He’s a very solid midfielder and particularly on offense but his loss can be dealt with and shouldn’t slow down Mexico too much. Team captain Rafael Marquez injured his foot in the Ecuador game but it wasn’t serious–he may be held out of today’s game but he should be fit for the start of World Cup play.

Bosnia is coming off an upset win over Ivory Coast in their first game but are still trying to work out their most effective roster. In fact, most observers suggest that the team they fielded against Ivory Coast wasn’t their strongest side but they managed to win 2-1. We just think that Mexico is more of a ‘finished product’ at this point and will be pointing toward a continuation of their winning ways while Bosnia will be treating this much like NFL teams treat preseason games.

BET MEXICO +135 OVER BOSNIA