Outright Odds: three hundred/one
Group F Winners: sixteen/1
Japan certainly are a tough group to predict. Past calendar year they conquer European champions Greece and gained a credible attract with Brazil in last years Confederations Cup but their qualifying marketing campaign was below convincing.
They misplaced just once in 12 qualifying matches, absent at Iran, and topped the team overall, However they only managed to attain greater than two goals against a severely depleted Indian aspect and wanted last minute wins in opposition to Oman and Korea DPR.
This sort of feebleness in qualification observed the general public demand manager Zicos head but The very fact they competent with the Event will save the Brazilian football legends position for the time being. Japan reached the 2nd spherical 4 a long time in the past but they may do properly to achieve that phase this time all over.
The 2002 marketing campaign noticed Japan defeat a dismal Russia right before narrowly dropping out to Turkey in the 2nd spherical. Legend has it that then-coach Phillipe Troussier chose striker Akinori Nishizawa, who had not performed while in the tournament, forward of regular strikers Takayuki Suzuki and Atushi Yanagisawa since it was his birthday. Definitely Zico wouldnt make this type of error?
A United kingdom-based mostly midfield trio of Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion) and when suit, Shinji Ono of Feyenoord offers Japan their best possibility of good results its the rest 토토사이트 of the team which lacks true Global course.
The frequent strike pairing of Naohiro Takahara and Yanagisawa don't get frequent club soccer with Hamburg and Messina even though the remainder of the side is built up of residents with the vastly enhancing J-League. Only four on the 23 gamers in very last a long time Confederations Cup squad ended up centered abroad.
The centre half-pairing of Gamba Osakas Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Yokohamas Yuji Nakazawa have been good throughout a qualification marketing campaign which conceded just five aims but Brazil, Croatia and Australia will give a much sterner examination. Portsmouth flop Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, manufactured the scapegoat following Pompey shed four-one in your own home to Leyton Orient on his debut, has featured above 80 situations in intention for his region.
Japan might be victims of their own personal the latest accomplishment and expectation are going to be fantastic at this a long time finals. Even though You can find a good amount of talent in midfield, the team in general might not be up to emulating their group topping exploits of four many years back and they are unlikely to figure inside the knockout phases.
Suggested Guess
An unconvincing qualification marketing campaign and a lack of ambitions from the two strikers indicates Japan cannot be backed to qualify from the team. In fact, they could be propping up the rest by the time the 3 1st round matches are accomplished and backing from them can be a greater financial investment than supporting them.
Croatia to beat Japan @ 4/5