Japan W vs Costa Rica W Prediction & Betting Tips - Womens World Cup

Prediction published on 24/07/2023, 08:20  by Devesh Jaganath in Womens World Cup Predictions

The second round of matches in Group C of the Women’s World Cup will see Japan Women take on Costa Rica Women on Wednesday. According to the bookmakers, the Japanese and Spaniards are the favourites to qualify from this group. Currently ranked 11th in the world according to FIFA rankings, Japan leads the group after the first round. They beat Zambia 5-0 in the first match, which was the biggest win of the first round, and have now won four of their last five matches in all competitions. Japan were incredibly dominant in their first match, firing 25 shots at goal and 11 on target while not allowing their opponents to register a single shot in the game. Miyazawa Hinata is the current joint top scorer in the tournament to date, with two goals. Japan won the Women’s World Cup in 2011, then came runners-up in 2015, and were knocked out in the last 16 in 2019. Based on their first-match performance, they should pick up another three points in this one. 

Costa Rica are ranked 36th according to FIFA and comes into this match after a 3-0 loss to Spain in the first match of the group. They were outplayed on every level in that match, managing only 19% possession, while Spain managed an incredible 46 shots in the match compared to Costa Rica’s one. Costa Rica’s qualification for the tournament came by beating Panama and Trinidad and Tobago at the CONCACAF W Championship, which earned them a semi-final spot. They were beaten by the tournament winners USA in the penultimate round of that competition, but a final-four placement was enough to secure their qualification. This is only Costa Rica’s second appearance at the Women’s World Cup, with their first ending in the group stages back in 2019. Along with Zambia, they are likely to struggle to make it to the knockout stages.