Japan Ol. vs Paraguay Ol. prediction: WORLD: Olympic Games betting tips on match 2024-07-23 17:00.
[p]Japan may have qualified for a record-breaking eighth successive Olympic Games, but all is not well for the Samurai Blues as they head to Paris. Star names such as Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo and Zion Suzuki of Parma have been prevented from taking part by their clubs, meaning that Go Oiwa has named an 18-man squad that does not contain a single over-23 player, while national team director Masakuni Yamamoto described the selection process as “difficult”.[/p]
[p]Japan reached the Olympics after beating Uzbekistan 1-0 in the final of this year’s AFC under-23 Asian Cup. They also have a decent pedigree at the Olympics, having come third in 1968, alongside two fourth-placed finishes, including as host nation three years ago, when they were beaten 3-1 by Mexico in the bronze-medal match.[/p]
[p]Their quest to reach the podium this time around starts against Paraguay, whose only previous Olympic medal came when finishing as runners-up in Athens 20 years ago, when they ironically beat Japan 4-3 in their opening group encounter, but lost 1-0 to Argentina in the final. Remarkably, this is the first time that La Albirroja have reached the Olympics since then, with their qualification secured by winning the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament.[/p]
[p]Their form since then has not been good however, with a shock 2-1 reversal to the Dominican Republic in March one of several worrying friendly defeats. Managed by Carlos Jara Saguier, they do have plenty of experience to call upon though, including 36-year-old goalkeeper Gatito Fernández of Botafogo and Dynamo Moscow defender Fabián Balbuena, who has not only won 45 caps for the senior team, but also played over 50 times in the English Premier League.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Japan striker Mao Hosoya has tasted victory in each of the seven competitive U23 internationals he has scored in, with five of those wins being accompanied by clean sheets. Diego Gómez – a teammate of Lionel Messi at Inter Miami – could well be a key player here for Paraguay, after he was joint-top scorer at the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic tournament with five goals.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Japan have only lost one of their last nine group matches at the Olympic Games (W6, D2). [/p]