Outright Odds: 300/1
Group File Winners: sixteen/one
Japan absolutely are a difficult team to forecast. Final year they defeat European champions Greece and earned a reputable draw with Brazil in past yrs Confederations Cup but their qualifying marketing campaign was fewer than convincing.
They misplaced just the moment in twelve qualifying matches, absent at Iran, and topped the group All round, However they only managed to attain greater than two targets in opposition to a severely depleted Indian facet and required last second wins against Oman and Korea DPR.
These types of feebleness in qualification observed the public demand manager Zicos head but the fact they certified for that Match will preserve the Brazilian football legends occupation for the time being. Japan attained the second round four many years ago but they're going to do very well to succeed in that phase this time all around.
The 2002 campaign saw Japan defeat a dismal Russia right before narrowly shedding out to Turkey in the second round. Legend has it that then-coach Phillipe Troussier chose striker Akinori Nishizawa, who had not performed inside the tournament, forward of regular strikers Takayuki Suzuki and Atushi Yanagisawa mainly because it was his birthday. Surely Zico wouldnt make this type of oversight?
A UK-dependent midfield trio of Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion) and if fit, Shinji Ono of Feyenoord offers Japan their most effective possibility of good results its the rest of the staff which lacks accurate Worldwide class.
The normal strike pairing of Naohiro Takahara and Yanagisawa do not get common club football with Hamburg and Messina while the rest of the facet is manufactured up of citizens from the vastly improving J-League. Only 4 with the 23 gamers in very last yrs Confederations Cup squad were being primarily based overseas.
The centre half-pairing of Gamba Osakas Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Yokohamas Yuji Nakazawa ended up reliable all over a qualification campaign which conceded just five targets but Brazil, Croatia and Australia will provide a A lot sterner examination. Portsmouth flop Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, produced the scapegoat right after Pompey shed four-1 at your home to Leyton Orient on his debut, has featured in excess of eighty situations in intention for his state.
Japan might be victims of their unique latest achievement and expectation will be great at this decades finals. Even though There may be lots of talent in midfield, the group as a whole will not be approximately emulating their group topping exploits of 4 many years in the past and are unlikely to figure in the knockout levels.
Recommended Bet
An unconvincing qualification marketing campaign and an absence of ambitions from the two strikers usually means Japan can't be backed to qualify from the group. In reality, they may be propping up The remainder by the point the 안전놀이터 three very first round matches are done and backing versus them can be a better expenditure than supporting them.
Croatia to conquer Japan @ 4/five