Japan vs Croatia prediction for Monday’s Qatar 2022 World Cup round 16 clash at Al Janoub in Al Wakrah. This game is scheduled to start at 15:00 UK time. You can follow our free prediction betting tips and preview on this page.
Bookmaker Ratings Prediction One: Under 5.5 Yellow Cards – 1.34
Bookmaker Ratings Prediction Two: Under 9.5 Corners – 1.43
Under 5.5 Yellow Cards
Both Japan’s and Croatia’s style of play is not aggressive and as a result, their matches see a low number of bookings. To illustrate, Japan’s four of their last five competitive games and Croatia’s all of their last five fixtures produced under 5.5 yellow cards.
Under 9.5 Corners
The games in the knockout stages usually are very tactical and most of the time the ball is played in midfield. Moreover, all of Croatia’s previous five and Japan’s three of their last five competitive fixtures produced under 9.5 corners.
Japan
Japan achieved one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history after winning group E which included Germany and Spain. Moreover, the Blue Samurai had beaten the Germans in the first round which was the main reason why the four-time World champions were eliminated.
In the final game of the group stage, Japan beat the 2010 champions Spain by 2-1 after a controversial second goal. Nonetheless, coach Moriyasu proved that his tactics are perfect for beating big teams by relying on quick attacks after high pressure and varying their defense to a compact one, and hitting on the breaks as they did with Germany and Spain.
Croatia
The 2018 Runners-up Croatia have reached the knockout stage for the third time in their history. However, the Blazers finished second in F after Morocco in another huge upset by the African nation. Croatia managed to collect five points from one win and two draws and with their final game draw with Belgium, they eliminated the Red Devils who are ranked second in the world.
Croatia needed a draw in their final game with Belgium and coach Zlatko Dalic played a very balanced system. To point out, Croatia kept their goal clean for the second time in the World Cup and threatened Belgium’s goal 11 times. Overall, Croatia’s defense is the team’s strong side as they let in 0.70 goals per game in the ten fixtures prior to this one.
Our primary prediction concerning this game is the yellow cards market. Despite playing in a do-or-die match, both teams don’t have the tendency in receiving many yellow cards in their games as we covered earlier. Thus, we predict to see under 5.5 yellow cards in this game.
In all of their three group-stage games, Japan conceded the first goal. Croatia on the other hand scored first in five of their previous eight outings. With odds of 1.74 at Vbet, we predict Croatia to take a 1-0 lead in this game.
Both coaches have a fully fit squad to select their starting players from for this round of 16 game.
Goalkeeper: Gonda;
Defenders: Itakura, Yoshida, Taniguchi;
Midfielders: Ito, Nagatomo, Kubo, Tanaka, Morita, Kamada;
Forward: Maeda;
Goalkeeper: Livakovic;
Defenders: Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa;
Midfielders: Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic;
Forwards: Kramaric, Livaja, Perisic;
Who won the last meeting between these clubs?
Japan vs Croatia drew 0–0 in the 2006 Word Cup in Germany.
Where will this match be played?
Monday’s game will be played at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.
Which bookmaker has the best odds for this fixture?
We recommend checking out the odds at Vbet for Japan vs Croatia.