On Monday afternoon, Japan and Croatia will go head-to-head at Al Janoub Stadium – with both sides hoping to book their place in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Japan punched their ticket to the last 16 after finishing top of Group E, two points clear of Spain and Germany. Very few people expected that to happen before the tournament kicked off.
As for Croatia, they secured their spot in the knockouts by finishing second in Group F – knocking out Belgium in the process. Can they go all the way to the final once again?
Japan kicked off their campaign with a stunning comeback victory over Germany, scoring two second-half goals to win 2-1.
After losing their second game 1-0 to Costa Rica, the Japanese produced another remarkable turnaround – scoring twice in the second half to beat Spain 2-1.
Believe it or not, Japan achieved 26% possession against Germany before seeing just 17% of the ball against Spain. Still, they managed to win on both occasions.
When you look at the bigger picture, Japan have only lost two of their previous nine games in all competitions. Can they avoid defeat on Monday?
On the flip side, Croatia advanced to the knockout phase without defeat after picking up one win and two draws to finish second in Group F.
Following a goalless draw with Morocco, the 2018 runners-up thrashed Canada 4-1 before playing out another goalless draw with Belgium – knocking the Red Devils out of the tournament.
It is worth noting that Croatia have conceded a solitary goal in Qatar, with the midfield trio of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic running the show in the middle of the park.
The Croatians head into the knockouts on a nine-game unbeaten streak and have only lost one of their previous 19 outings across all competitions.
Head-to-head: Japan and Croatia met at the 1998 and 2006 editions of the World Cup following Japan’s 4-3 victory over Croatia back in 1997.
Croatia beat Japan 1-0 in 1998 before the two sides played out a goalless draw in 2006. That means the H2H record between the teams stands at one win apiece and one draw.
Team news: Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma is pushing for a start in Japan’s XI after impressing across three substitute appearances in Qatar.
Croatia have named an unchanged starting XI for the past two games. The only change from the first game saw Marko Livaja replace Nikola Vlasic in attack.
Japan and Croatia have both enjoyed an impressive World Cup campaign up to now, meaning Monday’s clash is destined to be a tight encounter.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Japan and Croatia will play out a low-scoring draw inside 90 minutes – forcing the game to extra-time and/or penalties.
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