Japan vs Venezuela Predictions

Having impressed at the World Cup, especially when taking Belgium right to the wire in the last-16, Japan have delivered some pleasing results over the last few months. Hajime Moriyasu’s men have won each of their last three matches, so they ought to approach this fixture in confident mood.

During the World Cup in Russia, the Japanese showed a wider footballing audience that they’re no mugs; at times, they didn’t look great at the back, but they played the game the right way, got forward, created chances and scored some very good goals. They were desperately unlucky to go out against Belgium having held a 2-0 lead with little more than 20 minutes remaining, though they haven’t dwelled on that disappointment and have clearly used the platform built in Russia to start doing well on a regular basis.

Since Russia, the Japanese have won each of their three fixtures, scoring an impressive ten goals and conceding just three in the process. Their commanding performance against a good Uruguay side last time out, where they both created numerous openings and scored four goals, bodes very well ahead of this fixture.

In contrast, Venezuela weren’t at the World Cup, while their recent efforts haven’t been overly impressive. They did beat UAE last time out, but that’s not exactly something to shout about, while their performance on that occasion didn’t exactly suggest that they’d thrive against better opponents. What’s more, Friday’s visitors looked very weak at the back when conceding four goals against a Basque Country side prior to that.

Furthermore, Venezuela haven’t travelled too well outside of their own continent. Friday’s visitors have won just three of their last ten matches outside of South America, while they conceded twice when they last visited Japan.

After some very encouraging performances, scoring at least three goals in each of their three home matches since the end of the World Cup, including a 4-3 win over a very good Uruguayan side, Japan are fancied to get the better of an opponent that hasn’t exactly thrived away from home in recent years. At the prices, ‘Japan to Win & Over 1.5 Goals’, which has yielded a profit in each of Japan’s last three home games, stands out.