Japan Ol. vs Spain Ol. prediction: WORLD: Olympic Games – Play Offs betting tips on match 2024-08-01 15:00.
[p]There will be a repeat of one of the semi-finals from the 2020 men’s Olympics football tournament as Japan meet Spain in the last eight this Friday in Lyon. After a 5-0 win over Paraguay and a 1-0 victory against Mali, Japan went into their final Group D fixture with a 100% record and without conceding a goal, and both those records were maintained against Israel (W 1-0).[/p]
[p]With six of their seven group-stage goals having arrived after half-time, it won’t be a great surprise if Japan begin this knockout match cautiously. At the quarter-final stage in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, they needed a penalty shootout to defeat New Zealand, but are now just one game away from their third semi-final in the last four Summer Olympics.[/p]
[p]Spain meanwhile are targeting their second successive final and their third final since they last won Gold in 1992 in Barcelona, although that remains the only-ever time they’ve won this event. Three years ago in Tokyo, extra time was required in their quarter-final win over the Ivory Coast, but with the temperature forecast to be in the 30s at kick-off on Friday, you’d imagine both teams would welcome finishing this encounter during normal time![/p]
[p]La Roja will be looking to bounce back from their 2-1 loss to Egypt on Tuesday, a defeat which cost them top spot in Group C and saw them fail to open the scoring for the first time this campaign. Even after that disappointment, they comfortably finished as the leading scorers in their group, with six different players finding the net, so they have plenty of scoring options ahead of their fourth U23 H2H with Japan since the start of the 2012 tournament (W1, D1, L1).[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Japan captain Rihito Yamamoto scored after half-time in both of the first two games here in France, before coming off at the break against Israel. After getting two assists in the U-23 Asian Cup in April, he has contributed to four goals in his last six starts for his country. Spain made ten changes for their clash with Egypt, but expect FermĂn LĂłpez to be one of many returnees to the starting XI, with the Barcelona midfielder seeing four of his last six goals at club level arrive after the 55th minute, although his sole goal so far at this tournament arrived in the first half. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Spain conceded before half-time in all three of their group matches.[/p]
[p][i]Written by: Tom Penn[/i][/p]