2018 FIFA WORLD CUP – Colombia vs Japan PREVIEW
We’ve finally approached near the of the 1st round of fixtures. A group that is probably the most unpredictable and in the 1st game the best teams meet the worst, but when you compare the level of the teams, they’re not that much separated and its Colombia facing Japan. These nations met in 2014 and Colombia won 4-1, but the score did not reflect the match, it was much closer. Colombia will be led by their star man James Rodriguez who’ll be looking to add to his successful 2014 campaign. They’re an exciting side who are expect to play fun attacking football. Japan have some good players of their own such as Okazaki, Kagawa, Honda and many others. It should be an entertaining games as both sides look to kick off the campaign on a bang.
COLOMBIA
Once again Colombia are coming into the World Cup led by their star man James Rodriguez. A player who was probably robbed of player of the tournament 4 years ago when he put on an absolute show scoring 6 goals will be looking to do the same this year, but go further than last time. Colombia have a lot of exciting talent and their striker Falcao will finally get a chance to play his first world cup. Colombia are considered as one of the dark horses coming into the tournament, they’re quite similar to Uruguay to me. Colombia’s attacking talent however does not reflect in their results since the last world cup. For some weird reason they have struggled to score goals, whether it’s the qualifiers or the copa America tournaments, and it’s weird when you look at it because they do have James, Cuadrado, Falcao, Muriel, Bacca which is a top attacking team on paper, however they haven’t clicked for a while, but if they do manage to click they could be a very entertaining side. Colombia do have a solid defence led by an emerging Davinson Sanchez who is already becoming one of the better CB’s in the Premier League and in the world in general. Colombia don’t tend to leak in many goals and it will be important for them because they have some tough sides to play. Colombia’s weakness other than scoring is their performances against lower sides because they’ve had far too many weird results like draws against Australia, Venezuela and Egypt. Colombia need to make sure they don’t underestimate Japan and put in a good shift because Japan are no joke and could burn Colombia.
Colombia’s road to the world cup was tough and they didn’t impress too much. Colombia picked up 7W 6D 5L but it was enough. Colombia struggled to score goals only scoring 21 in 18 games which proves my point that for some reason they cant seem to break down opposition. Colombia had to fight until the end to get in the world cup and eventually did it stumbling across the finish line only picking up 3 points in their last 4 games finishing in 4th place and not needing playoffs. Their top scorer was once again James Rodriguez with 6.
Before the world cup, Colombia just played one game in May which some would say wasn’t enough. They played Salah-less Egypt and drew 0-0. They dominated most of the game, but again their goal scoring problems continues as they couldn’t break down an Egyptian side which they really should have done so. Colombia will need to fix up when it comes to their attack because on paper they’re very good, but performances are a different story. If they sort it out then I have no doubt they’ll win the opening game and eventually the group. I mean they have shown their full talent on display just a few months ago against France beating them 3-2, but they do lack consistency and will need to sort it out otherwise there will be problems.
JAPAN
Japan are relatively underrated if we look at where people expect them to finish and looking at their squad. Led by their big 3 Honda Kagawa and Okazaki which could be their last hurrah at the world cup, Japan will be looking to surprise a few. Japan have never seemed to lack talent, but they haven’t been able to put together a solid world cup, they are a side led by players who are simply inconsistent in general. One day you may have Kagawa and Honda setting the stage on fire, the next they seem invisible and that inconsistency is problematic. Other danger men for Japan that could make an impact are Inui and Osaka, two attackers who do play in Europe and can bring something to the game. Now the main talking point about the Japan is coaching. Japan actually replaced their coach after qualifying for the world cup and have hired Akira Nishino with 2 months before the world cup. That’s not a good sign for a team literally before the world cup because the change of a game plan, tactics is something they need to get used to as quick as they can. A good thing about Nishino is that he does like attacking based football and we can expect Japan to go at teams which should lead to open games and maybe goals. Japan’s other weakness is that they didn’t bring in too much youth, they have a lot of players who are starting to age and its most likely the last world cup for most of them which is disappointing because every team needs some youth injected into them. Japan’s defence does seem exposable, they have been leaking in goals recently to better nations and will have to sure it up at the back.
Japan weren’t put in any trouble during their qualifying campaign. They demolished the 1st round of group stages with Syria, Singapore, Afghanistan and Cambodia as opponent winning 7, drawing 1, losing none and topping the group by 4 points keeping 8 clean sheets in 8 games and scoring 27. Pure dominance. In the final qualifying round Japan faced Saudi Arabia, Australia, UAE, Iraq and Thailand. Japan won the group once again and although they just beat out Australia and Saudi Arabia by 1 point, they were at the top the whole way and qualified before the last fixture. The loss to Saudi Arabia in the end cut the gap to make it look like they were actually under any pressure. They stayed solid at the back only conceding 7 which might say their defence was solid and it was in the qualifiers, but let’s be honest the level of competition don’t reflect to what they have to face at the World Cup.
Japan played 3 friendlies. They lost the first two by the same score of 2-0 to Ghana and Switzerland, playing poorly however they ended their preparation with a very impressive 4-2 come from behind win against Paraguay. Japan scored all 4 goals in the 2nd half against a good Paraguay side who nearly qualified to the world cup themselves and I think that win will give them a massive boost coming into the world cup. An inconsistent few games from Japan, but they have shown their attacking talent on full display in the last game. It’s hard to predict what Japan side we’ll see at the world cup, but if it’s the good Japan then they’ll have a chance to go through, but if it’s a Japan team that leaks goals and don’t create due to their inconsistent attacking players then they’ll hardly pick up any points. Colombia will be a massive test for them and they’ll have to be on their game.
What to Expect From The Game
I don’t expect Colombia to dominate the game like many people. This should be a good open game of football full of chances. With Japan having a suspect defence, Colombia should be able to find a way to overcome their attacking struggles, I mean they do have one of the best creative players in James and one of the best finishers in Falcao in their team and against a poor defence they should be able to click. Japan don’t lack threat going forward either and wont sit back. Expect an entertaining game of football between both sides and I really hope Japan do turn up in this game and make it interesting. A Colombia win is obviously something many people expect, but we shouldn’t be surprised if Japan get something out of this game. If you want to put money on someone then we’d recommend a low stake on Japan because they can surprise and in general there have been a lot of surprises in this tournament, so why not another one?
ODDS – Decimal – (WilliamHill)
Colombia Win – 1.67
Draw – 3.80
Japan Win – 5.00
KICK OFF – 19th June 2018 – 1pm UK Time
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