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

Prediction published on 01/07/2021, 16:43  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 01/08/2021 at 16:45 in Men's Olympic Tournament Predictions

For the first time at Tokyo 2020, Japan were made to labor, and needed post match penalties to secure a nervy win over New Zealand in the quarters. In the semi finals, they will take on Spain, who also didn’t have a very comfortable outing against Ivory Coast in the quarters. Japan played to a 0-0 draw with New Zealand after regular and extra time but held their own to win 4-2 on penalties and the hosts’ journey continues. While they struggled to break New Zealand, they registered their third clean sheet in four matches at the competition and this remains one of their highest points. Maya Yoshida has been a rock in Japan’s defence. He was part of the team in London 2012 as Japan beat Spain 1-0 and after scoring the winning penalty in the quarter finals, will hope to guide the team to the Tokyo 2020 final.

Spain had to come from down twice before seeing of Ivory Coast 5-2 in their quarter final clash. They trailed 2-1 at 90 minutes in the game but Rafa Mir, within seconds of being introduced as a late sub, leveled to take the game to extra time. He went on to score two more in extra time while Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the spot to complete the rout. They will hope to handle this game much better, especially in defence, knowing Japan can be devastating in attack, as France came to learn at the group stage. Spain haven’t kept a clean sheet in their last two matches and they had very shaky moments defensively in their last game. In their opening three matches at this competition, Spain weren’t very comfortable in attack and they only came out guns blazing when forced to in the Ivory Coast game. It may be unforgiving against Japan.