FRIENDLY BETTING PICK - HAMBURG SV V REAL MADRID

Friendly

2008-08-02 - Hamburg SV vs Real Madrid

A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner

Hamburg SV vs Real Madrid
Emirates Cup Pre-season Tournament
Emirates Stadium, London
Saturday, August 2nd 2008 - KO 2:00pm

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It's good to get back to some football.

With the Emirates Cup being broadcast to a worldwide audience via ESPN - I thought that I should end my July holiday and finally sit down and start writing some football previews again.

HAMBURG SV (GERMANY)
4th in Bundesliga 14-12-8 GD +21

Hamburg will come to the Emirates Stadium with a familiar face in charge as former Spurs boss Martin Jol is now the boss at the Bundesliga after being appointed at the end of last season.

As well as challenging for domestic honurs, Jol will lead Hamburg on a UEFA Cup campaign, where the German side will probably find their opponents "slightly" easier than the two sides that they face here.

EARLY FORM
HSV have played one meaningful game when they beat the Premier League side Manchester City 1-0, in front of a healthy crowd of 32,737 at the HSH Nordbank Arena. A mistake in the City defence gifted Jonathan Pitroipa the only goal of the game on 15 minutes.

The German team looked the the better side all game, despite the sweltering conditions and were well worth their victory displaying a greater fitness level.

REAL MADRID (SPAIN)
1st in Primera 27-4-7 GD +48

Real Madrid have hit plenty of off-field headlines during the close season - mainly for president Ramon Calderon shooting his mouth off and failing to back it up - and now coach Bernd Schuster has hit out at the club's directors for keeping him in the dark over transfers.

The Spanish champions have focused all their efforts on trying to lure Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, which has so far proved fruitless.

Racing Santander's young defender Ezequiel Garay is the only signing to date, although Ruben de la Red has returned from his loan spell at Getafe and on Wednesday president Ramon Calderon revealed Hamburg playmaker Rafael van der Vaart is close to joining.

EARLY FORM
It's almost too early but Real Madrid played their first preseason match this week as clubs start the long warm-up before the real business begins at the end of August.

Real Madrid began their pre season training in Austria with a 2-3 win at LASK Linz, transfer listed Baptista and Saviola getting two of the goals.

OTHER FACTORS - TRANSFER DEALINGS

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon claims the club could sign Hamburg star Rafael van der Vaart this weekend.

The Holland international has repeatedly been linked with Madrid throughout the summer after some fine performances at Euro 2008, and the Primera Liga champions have already had a six million euro bid rejected.

Reports in Spain suggest an improved bid of 10million has been accepted and Calderon is confident Van der Vaart is only days away from becoming a Madrid player.

THE VERDICT

What to really say about a game that is so early in the pre-season that we're thinking more about the summer Olympics than football.

Based on some very thin reports it appears that Hamburg have trained quite hard, and are already getting close to match fitness, and this early preparation is a trait of Martin Jol's methods.

The transfer news around Van der Vaart is confusing, and it could either serve to spur the player on to a great effort, or we might find that he is left out altogether if Hamburg don't want to risk the sale to a silly injury.

However, Real Madrid have an immensely talented squad, and should enjoy playing on the perfect surface of the Emirates pitch, and ordinarily you should expect the Spaniards to beat Hamburg at a neutral venue.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

I think that REAL MADRID can edge this one.