Japan vs Paraguay Prediction & Betting Tips - Men's Olympic Tournament

Prediction published on 24/07/2024, 04:26  by Sridhar in Men's Olympic Tournament Predictions

Olympic football regulars Japan starts their quest for a medal with a group game against Paraguay. This Group D match of the tournament will be played at the Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux on Wednesday, with the prediction of a tight match likely.

The other two teams in this group are Mali and Israel, both of whom are in rich form and can be tricky. That puts the onus on these two teams to win here and start their quest to qualify for the knockouts on a good note. Japan are in their eighth successive Olympic games, so they know a bit or two about this competition. Unfortunately for them, star players Takefusa Kubo and Zion Suzuki didn’t join the side after Real Sociedad and Parma prevented them, respectively.

Japan reached the Olympics after defeating Uzbekistan in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup final. Paraguay earned their ticket to Paris by winning the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament. However, their form since then has nosedived, causing a bit of concern. A 2-1 defeat to the Dominican Republic, followed by a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of the France U23 side, indicates the amount of work to be done to compete in the group.

Paraguay’s last appearance in the Olympics was in Athens 20 years ago, when they finished as runners-up to Argentina. Interestingly, in that edition, Paraguay defeated Japan 4-3 in the opening match.