Belgium- Japan
I think Japan is the only team that they didn’t deserve %100 to be in the last 16. Rest of teams gave me better hopes. Japan is 1w-2d-3l against European teams at World Cup. The worriest part is; Japan scored only 1 goal in those 6 meetings. Before their 3rd last-16 match, they are 1d-1l. 0-1 lost to Turkey and 0-0 draw with Paraguay. In this WC 18, they came with some management and coaching problems. Current squad haven’t made successful season at their clubs. They tend to play offensive football in group stage. The victory over Colombia was big make-up as they were leading 1-0 vs 10 man in the early minutes. It would be misbehaving to compare Belgium vs Japan in 2002 when WC group stage match ended 2-2. Belgium has the best squad in their history ever. In the last 2 WC and Euro’s, they failed to show the result expected by many people. It was like a planet without a sun. Sun is now De Bruyne who takes more responsibility and creates chances for team. They are without a loss in last 22. Their game style is obvious mismatch for Japan team.
Prediction: Asian handicap -1,5 goals to Blegium(2,10).
Good luck !
