Israel Ol. vs Japan Ol. prediction: WORLD: Olympic Games betting tips on match 2024-07-29 19:00.
[p]Having suffered a defeat against Paraguay in a six-goal thriller at the Parc des Princes (4-2), Israel face an uphill task if they’re to qualify for the knockout stages of the Olympic football tournament. They enter matchday three bottom of Group D, and must beat table-topping Japan and hope that Paraguay don’t beat Mali to have any chance of progressing.[/p]
[p]Even that may not be enough on what’s sure to be a nerve-shredding evening for Israel, where a host of permutations could prevent them from reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 1976. That was also the last time they competed in the men’s football tournament at the Olympics, but with their two prior historical participations seeing them progress beyond the group, they do have a bit of history on their side.[/p]
[p]Rihito Yamamoto scored the winner as Japan saw off Mali 1-0 on Saturday to book their place in the quarter-finals. The Samurai Blue survived a stoppage-time penalty in that clash, meaning they’re the only side in Group D yet to concede at this tournament after a 5-0 thrashing of Paraguay in their opening fixture.[/p]
[p]Those performances have inspired confidence that they can at least match the fourth place they achieved in both 2012, and 2020 on home soil. Japan, barring a huge anomaly, will top their group for the third time in the last four editions here and will prove dangerous to any opponent if they can keep striking late, as they’ve already scored three goals beyond the 80th minute in this tournament. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: After a strong season for Gent in which he scored 13 times, Omri Gandelman picked up where he left off by scoring the opener against Paraguay – four of his last six goals arrived after the break. Japanese striker Shota Fujio could start here as he came on as a substitute in the previous two matches, scoring twice beyond the 80th minute on matchday one. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Twelve of 14 goals scored in these side’s matches at the Olympics came in the second half.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Tomáš Vlasák[/i][/p]