Prediction: Switzerland vs Japan

Prediction: Switzerland win

Betting Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker: bet365

The World Cup is rapidly approaching and for thirty-two nations around the world, things are going to start feeling very real in the next few days. Two such nations are Switzerland and Japan, both of whom aren’t considered to be prominent players this summer in Russia, and yet, they’ve both got millions of fans backing them to succeed. That’s the beauty of this tournament, and while you may not know what they’re capable of, these two teams could surprise some people over the next few weeks.

Switzerland

While they may not be one of the leading forces in European football, Switzerland have a habit of performing well in the qualifiers for big tournaments before inevitably failing to impress in the finals. Still, they’ve got a number of big stars in their ranks, they should be favourites to finish 2nd behind Brazil in their group, and they’ve got a lot of momentum heading into the tournament. They may not quite be dark horses, but they could surprise some people in the next few weeks.

Team News

Shaqiri seems to be back to full fitness and could well start this game.

Japan

Japan seem to be one of those nations who are always there but can never quite take their tournament to the next step. Many Asian sides seem to suffer from a similar thing, and as we look ahead to Russia, they’ll certainly be the favourites to finish last in what is a pretty stacked group. With that being said they’ve got a few playmakers up their sleeve who could provide a few moments of magic, although stemming the flow from a defensive standpoint will likely be their biggest challenge.

Team News

Japan will likely stick with a back-three formation and have a full squad to choose from.

Factors to Consider

• These two teams have shared one victory each in their only encounters against one another, in 1993 and 2007.
• Switzerland’s World Cup group includes Brazil, Serbia & Costa Rica.
• Japan’s World Cup group includes Colombia, Senegal and Poland.
• Switzerland are unbeaten in their last five games including wins against Northern Ireland, Greece and Panama.
• Japan have lost four of their last five games, with their only draw coming against Mali.

Conclusion

While Japan will always have a lot of heart as a team, Switzerland are a much more efficient unit and should see this game through pretty comfortably. However, if they get the lead they may want to just cling to it, and for that reason, we’re going for a 2-1 win for the Swiss.

Prediction: Switzerland win

Betting Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker: bet365