Outright Odds: three hundred/one
Team File Winners: sixteen/1
Japan certainly are a tough crew to forecast. Very last yr they beat European champions Greece and attained a reputable attract with Brazil in previous years Confederations Cup but their qualifying marketing campaign was less than convincing.
They misplaced just at the time in 12 qualifying matches, away at Iran, and topped the group All round, However they only managed to score over two plans versus a severely depleted Indian side and necessary last minute wins from Oman and Korea DPR.
This kind of feebleness in qualification observed the public demand supervisor Zicos head but The very fact they qualified for that tournament will help save the Brazilian football legends job In the intervening time. Japan arrived at the next spherical four decades back but they can do very well to achieve that phase this time close to.
The 2002 marketing campaign noticed Japan defeat a dismal Russia right before narrowly dropping out to Turkey in the 2nd round. Legend has it that then-coach Phillipe Troussier selected striker Akinori Nishizawa, who had not performed while in the Match, in advance of regular strikers Takayuki Suzuki and Atushi Yanagisawa since it was his birthday. Undoubtedly Zico wouldnt make this kind of error?
A British isles-based mostly midfield trio of Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion) and if suit, Shinji Ono of Feyenoord provides Japan their ideal probability of good results its the rest of the group which lacks correct Worldwide course.
The common strike pairing of Naohiro Takahara and Yanagisawa usually do not get frequent club soccer with Hamburg and Messina although the remainder of the aspect is designed up of 먹튀검증업체 people in the vastly enhancing J-League. Only 4 with the 23 players in past yrs Confederations Cup squad were dependent abroad.
The centre half-pairing of Gamba Osakas Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Yokohamas Yuji Nakazawa have been reliable all over a qualification campaign which conceded just 5 goals but Brazil, Croatia and Australia will provide a A great deal sterner examination. Portsmouth flop Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, produced the scapegoat just after Pompey misplaced four-one in your house to Leyton Orient on his debut, has featured about 80 situations in objective for his country.
Japan could possibly be victims of their very own recent success and expectation will likely be wonderful at this a long time finals. Even though There exists loads of expertise in midfield, the group as a whole will not be up to emulating their group topping exploits of 4 many years ago and therefore are not likely to figure inside the knockout phases.
Proposed Bet
An unconvincing qualification marketing campaign and a lack of aims from the two strikers suggests Japan can not be backed to qualify within the team. In actual fact, they might be propping up The remainder by the point the three 1st spherical matches are finished and backing versus them could possibly be a better investment than supporting them.
Croatia to defeat Japan @ 4/five