On Friday, starting with 14:15, the Japan-Panama match will be played, a friendly match scheduled in Graz, Austria. Japan won 3-0 in a friendly played on October 12, 2018, against the Panama national team, the only previous direct match.
Japan will play friendly matches with Panama and Mexico in Austria, in Graz. The Japanese have selected 25 players, all playing for teams abroad. There are also Takumi Minamino (Liverpool), Takefusa Kubo (Villarreal) and captain Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria). Japan comes after friendlies played in October with Ivory Coast, score 1-0 and with Cameroon, score 0-0. The Japanese national team should have played matches with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, but the World Cup qualifiers were postponed.
Panama has a series of 4 consecutive matches without defeat, ticking victories with Costa Rica (twice 1-0), with Guatemala (score 2-0) and a draw with Nicaragua (score 0-0), all friendly. The Panamanians are coached by the Dane Thomas Christiansen, former manager at APOEL Nicosia and Leeds United, and the most selected player in the group is Armando Cooper, midfielder from Hapoel Tel Aviv, who also played for Dinamo Bucharest, in 2018. As in Asia, World Cup qualifiers in North and Central America, have been postponed.
Japan defeated Panama 3-0 in October 2018;
Japan – Ivory Coast 1-0 and Costa Rica – Panama 0-1, the latest results;
The meeting will take place in Graz, Austria;
PREDICTION: Japan to win @ 1,62
