Japan v Croatia: Goals at both ends the call in Samurai Blue Monday test
Japan v Croatia: Goals at both ends the call in Samurai Blue Monday test
Published:
Add Ladbrokes as a trusted source on Google
World Cup 2022: Japan v Croatia betting tips and odds
Japan have been one of the major stories of the World Cup, beating both Germany and Spain to finish top of Group E to set up Monday’s round-of-16 clash with Croatia.
The Croats were leading Group F before their final match but a goalless draw with Belgium meant Morocco topped the table following a 3-1 victory over Canada.
Japan’s victories against Spain and Germany were made even more remarkable by the fact they were trailing at half-time in both games either side of a shock loss to Costa Rica.
Second-half changes made by head coach Hajime Moriyasu against the European heavyweights, who have five World Cups between them, turned the matches on their head, with substitute Freiburg’s Ritsua Doan scoring both equalisers.
Croatia rode their luck against Belgium and had Romelu Lukaku taken the several chances that fell his way when introduced as a half-time substitute they would have been heading home.
The injury-plagued striker struck the post, headed over in front of an open goal and in the final minute failed to get a good connection to a cross a few yards out as his bungled effort was saved on the line.
In the end, Zlatko Dalic’s side drew 0-0 for the second group game, with their only win coming against Canada, who took the lead through Alphonso Davies only for Andrej Kramaric to steal the show with two goals in a 4-1 comeback victory.
Defence key to Croatia success
Croatia may have only conceded once at the 2022 World Cup, but Moriyasu has proved he is not afraid to make changes when the chips are down so both teams to score at evens is the first of our Japan v Croatia betting tips.
These teams met at the 1998 and 2006 World Cup finals and only one goal was scored in total, but 19 members of the Samurai Blue’s 26-man squad are playing in Europe and with pace to burn they can breach Croatia’s defence.
In Russia, the Croats won all three group games but their knockout games either went to penalties or extra time and a similar outcome could happen on Monday.
On the goalscoring front, Kramaric is 4/1 favourite to break the deadlock and 15/8 to score any time, but the merits of Junya Ito should not be dismissed.
The pacy Reims winger has yet to get off the mark at the World Cup but he went close against Spain and has yet to be substituted in games in which he started, so he should get a chance to break his duck.
