Japan W vs Costa Rica W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women betting tips on match 2023-07-25 05:00.
Japan could scarcely have imagined making a better start to their FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) group-stage campaign, as they thrashed tournament novices Zambia 5-0. That battering of Zambia certainly caught the eye in the opening round of group games, and Futoshi Ikeda’s side will be looking to continue their excellent start to the tournament by picking up three points against Costa Rica.
Victory here seems imperative to avoid losing ground as Japan look set to battle it out with Spain for Group C’s top spot on 31 July as the pair meet in their group stage finale. And given Japan have never beaten Spain in their brief H2H history, there’s seemingly added emphasis on Futoshi Ikeda’s side finding a third successive victory here, and with the last two coming via a 5-0 scoreline, don’t rule out Japan doing so in style.
This is just the second time that Japan have ever faced Costa Rica, who themselves are still looking for their first-ever win at a WWC finals after being beaten 3-0 by Spain in their Group C curtain-raiser, with all three Spanish goals coming in the space of six first-half minutes. However, things could have been a lot worse for Costa Rica were it not for the performance of Daniela Solera, who saved a penalty to prevent the score becoming even more humiliating.
Solera’s nine saves in the first round of matches was the second highest behind Haiti’s Kerly Théus (ten), and Las Ticas will likely again need her to be on top form if they’re to avoid a potential early exit in Dunedin. Costa Rica will know they realistically need a victory to avoid crashing out at the first hurdle, but the chances of that seem scarce for a side who have lost seven of their last eight internationals.
Players to watch: Mina Tanaka is Japan’s leading attacking threat with 25 international career goals and she has five goal involvements in her last three matches for her country (2G, 3A). If anyone is to get on the scoresheet for Costa Rica, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it was Raquel RodrĂguez given that she is their all-time record scorer with 55 goals. She also interestingly netted their first-ever WWC goal eight years ago.
Hot stat: Only one of Japan’s last 12 internationals has seen both teams score.