Japan v Croatia: Samurai Blue eye another upset

Japan v Croatia betting odds, tips and predictions

Japan will again look to defy the World Cup betting odds and cause another upset when they face the 2018 runners-up in the round of 16 at Qatar 2022.

Having already beaten Germany and Spain to win their group, Japan now have Croatia in their sights as they enter the knockout stage.

Monday’s match at the Al Janoub Stadium kicks off at 3pm.

Japan the comeback kings

Japan had a strange group campaign with their shock wins against the European heavyweights coming either side of a defeat at the hands of Costa Rica.

The Samurai Blue do not like to make life easy for themselves, having conceded first in all three games but incredibly coming from behind to cause two huge upsets.

On Thursday, Spain had looked in total control at the break after taking the lead through Alvaro Morata’s early header but following a couple of changes at half-time, Japan produced a remarkable turnaround in the space of five minutes.

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🗓 1 December: Japan 2-1 Spain – The greatest day in Japanese football #FifaWorldCup pic.twitter.com/M6VX49tPzT

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 1, 2022

Substitute Ritsu Doan equalised with a 20-yard drive before Ao Tanaka bundled in a second goal, which VAR allowed to stand following a lengthy review.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu said: “We played against Spain, which is one of the best teams in the world. We knew before the game that this was going to be very tough and difficult, and indeed, it was.

“The players conceded one goal, but they persisted and they persevered and tried to change the flow of the game. We played as one and I could feel the times had changed.”

They are underdogs once again at 29/10 in the Japan v Croatia odds while they are 22/1 to win from behind for the third time in the tournament, with Croatia 12/1 to lead at half-time and fail to win in normal time.

Croatia dodge big guns

Croatia hung on for a goalless draw against Belgium on Thursday which meant they finished runners-up behind Morocco in Group F.

They would have expected to face Spain next so may feel they have got lucky in now taking on Japan despite their victory over La Roja.

Croatia also rode their luck in the final game as Romelu Lukaku spurned several good opportunities to grab the goal which would have sent Belgium through at Croatia’s expense.

Head coach Zlatko Dalic said: “It is to be expected that a team such as Belgium would have certain chances and I must be honest and say that we were also lucky, they didn’t take their chances in the end.”

Having drawn with Morocco and then gone behind to Canada before coming back to win 4-1, it has not been the most impressive of campaigns so far for Croatia.

Japan’s energy could cause them problems while Croatia will hope their experience gives them the edge.

Either way, this match could spark into life in the second half as has been the case with a lot of the World Cup 2022 matches.

For our Japan v Croatia betting tips, we like Coral’s #YourCall option of 11/2 for Croatia to win or draw in 90 minutes, both teams to score in the second half and over 2.5 goals.

Look to Lovren

We’ve studied the goalscorer odds for the last of our Japan v Croatia predictions and Dejan Lovren may be worth a punt to score at any time at 14/1.

The former Liverpool defender was on target in a 3-1 Nations League win against Austria in Croatia’s final game before the World Cup in September.

That came just three weeks after scoring for Zenit St Petersburg and his aerial threat at set-pieces makes him an obvious target for Luka Modric.

View the latest World Cup odds

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication