Sep 29 (newsonjapan.com) - The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is less than 2 months away and Japanese fans are eagerly waiting for the display of the football national team in the first World Cup in an Arab country.
Japanese know how it feels to host a World Cup for the first time, as the 2002 tournament was held for the first time in the Asian continent with the country duo Korea and Japan taking the lead.
It meant the country fell in love with the National team and the relationship only grew since then. It also meant that Japan understood what it feels like to experience the most popular sporting event in the world, as a football World Cup is all about passion and emotion.
It’s not a coincidence that the world stops for a month during this tournament. Fans fill every bar and restaurant at home to see the games of their country or the biggest matchups. Countries like Argentina have seen a frenzy for the World Cup sticker album that made sticker company Panini have shortages of the album’s stamps. Online bookmakers see their platforms overflown by the number of fans looking to bet on the games of this tournament.
Arab companies are harnessing this opportunity like Arabian betting who has a platform offering the best gambling sites where fans can bet safely and securely on a vast array of sports disciplines. Clients will be able to bet on every World Cup game and check for all the special bonuses and promotions that bookmakers will be laying for the occasion. If you’ll be visiting Qatar for the World Cup, be sure to find betting sites where your privacy will be guaranteed.
Sadly, the odds are against Japan mainly because of the matchups they’ve been put against for the group phase.
Japan’s group E includes 4 times World Cup winners Germany, 2010 World Cup winners Spain and Costa Rica, a country that reached the quarterfinals in the 2014 edition.
But the last FIFA international break turned the wind a bit in favor of Japan.
Analyzing the Samurai blue rival’s games, Germany lost 1-0 against Hungary and drew 3-3 against England after being 2-0 upfront. The Germans looked devoid of ideas when turning up against the defensive block of Hungary and they were at their best against England when their rivals didn’t push the accelerator and stood pragmatic on their side of the field.
Spain lost at home 2-1 against Switzerland in a game where they looked very fragile in defense and mainly when having to defend opposing free kicks. They won against Portugal on the brink of the match in a much-improved performance.
And Costa Rica drew their game 2-2 against an unlucky Korean side and then won 2-1 against Uzbekistan, whose footballing level is far from what they will face in the World Cup.
Japan is a team that works under a basic premise of defensive solidity. Against the USA, they dominated the game by imposing a mid-block and high pressure on the American players. Japan looked to force them to play thru the middle where they would concentrate the efforts on regaining the ball with numbers and counterattack effectively, as USA’s goalkeeper Matt Turner was the man of the match after saving countless goal opportunities. The game ended 2-0 with a magnificent display of Japan’s attackers including Hidemasa Morita who now accounts for 5 goals in only 8 games played with Japan this year, he’ll be an attacker to look out for during the World Cup.
Against Ecuador, it was a different thing.
Japan was up against a much more reactive side with talented players on the wings who posed a serious threat to the Japanese side.
This time it was Japan’s goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt who was the man of the match after saving multiple chances including a penalty kick in the dying stages of the game to end the friendly in a scoreless draw.
Japan seems like a team that knows its strengths and weaknesses. The defensive shape of the team could be ideal for a game against Germany in the hopes of scratching the 3 points. Spain could pose the biggest challenge in the World Cup as they can take advantage of any space left behind by counterattacking teams.
But if Japan wishes to have any chance of passing through the group stage, they must seal the win against Costa Rica. It’s a possible scenario and with another win or draw against Germany, it could be enough to be in the round of 16.
