On Tuesday, June 12, starting at 14:05, the friendly match Japan – Paraguay will be held. The match will take place on “Tivoli Stadion Tirol” in Innsbruck (Austria).
In view of the sixth time at a World Championship, the Asians have played no less than four friendly games this year. The record is really disappointing. Mali (1-1), followed by three consecutive defeats against teams such as Ukraine, Ghana and Switzerland. In each of these defensive defenses he succumbed in two rows. Back in the last test, no doubt, Akira Nishino’s band is looking for a result that raises her morale. However, the mission does not announce a simple one. Especially as in the last nine games, Japan managed only once to score more than one goal.
On the other side, after they missed the final tour of Russia, the South Americans were pretty reserved. They played only one friendly match in March this year, when they handed 0-1 to the US. It was the seventh defeat in the last nine games and the fifth in which the offensive failed to find the way to the opposing goal. In fact, Paraguay has not scored any results in the last 18 games. In 11 of these games, the table underwent at least three changes.
Probable teams:
Japan (4-2-3-1): Kawashima – Sakai, Yoshida, Makino, Nagatomo – Hasebe, Shibasaki – Haraguchi, Kagawa, Usami – Honda
Paraguay (4-2-3-1): Villar – Valdez, Gomez, Balbuena, Alonso – Rojas, Ortiz – Romero, Sanchez, Gonzalez – Santander
In the last direct confrontation, Japan beat 1-0 in a friendly match played in September 2010. It was the only success that had been achieved by the Japanese since 2009.
PREDICTION: Over 1.5 goals @ 1.48
