Japan U23 vs Spain U23 Predictions

• Japan U23 are unbeaten in their last seven games (6 wins, 1 draw).
• Spain U23 have drawn five of their last six matches after 90 mins.
• Japan U23 drew 1-1 with Spain in a pre-tournament warm-up match.

Nothing to separate the sides in Saitama

Japan U23s’ quest for a football gold on home turf continues on Tuesday when they face the last of the European challengers in the form of Spain U23s.

Hajime Moriyasu’s men enthralled the home fans by winning all three group games, but lost some momentum in a goalless quarter-final against New Zealand that took penalties to produce a winner.

Japan can welcome Hiroki Sakai back from suspension but they will need to change their back four again with Takehiro Tomiyasu to sit this one out after picking up two bookings.

Spain will also need to reshuffle their rearguard after Oscar Mingueza lasted just 11 minutes of La Roja’s QF win over Ivory Coast with Jesus Vallejo and Oscar Gil – who will return from suspension – in contention to replace him.

Those respective changes in defence could ensure there will be more goalscoring opportunities in the game than this would have presented with full-strength line-ups.

Japan have conceded only once in four tournament games while Spain kept clean sheets in their first two group games.

Defences were generally on top when these two met for a pre-tournament warm-up game, which neither side wanted to lose, in Kobe that finished 1-1.

Japan took a first-half lead, as they did against Mexico and France in the group, before Spain grabbed a late equaliser after piling on the pressure.

We’re taking this one to feature Under 2.5 goals – as all but one of Spain’s last eight games have done – and fancy another 1-1 draw for a correct score prediction.

La Roja have drawn five of their last six after 90 minutes and – like both teams’ QFs – this could need extra time to produce a winner.