Belgium V Japan Predictions & Betting Odds

Belgium v Japan Betting Preview – World Cup 2018 2nd July – 7.00 p.m

Belgium probably won’t have been expecting to meet Japan in the round of sixteen at the 2018 World Cup, but that’s who they got and they will be pretty happy with it as well. This is the easiest draw that they could have received as the Blue Samurai sprung a huge surprise in getting out of their group. For our Belgium v Japan predictions, we only see a comfortable success for the Red Devils happening.

Table of Contents

Belgium News and Form

This looks as if this tie will be a fairly straightforward round of sixteen tie. Belgium won Group H ahead of England in many ways got the prize of an easier round of sixteen tie against Japan instead of Colombia. The difference is, Belgium could then be dealing with Brazil in the quarter final while England would face either Sweden or Mexico there if they get past Colombia. Belgium to win by two goals is at 3/1 odds with bet365* (Betting Odds were taken from June 29th, 2018 at 9:43 p.m.) looks a good option. They had their second string out against England so their main crop of players will be rested. We could go bigger in the correct score market but Belgium will want to just ease through this and keep something in the tank for a potential meeting with Brazil. A 2-0 lead is a coasting lead.

Belgium are capable of doing more but they don’t need to. Romelu Lukaku will fancy his chances of getting among the goals again as he is well in the Golden Boot race and the Manchester United man is the 13/5 first goalscorer favourite for the match* (Betting Odds were taken from June 29th, 2018 at 9:43 p.m.). Belgium haven’t lost in 22 fixtures now and not only are they are major force going forward, they have taken six clean sheets in their last eight games as well. Backing Belgium to win to nil is an obvious prediction for this game, but we are pushing the boat out and going for that Belgium 2-0 correct score option at 11/2 odds* (Betting Odds were taken from June 29th, 2018 at 9:43 p.m.).

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Japan News and Form

Not many punters would have backed Japan to get through to the round of sixteen, but they made it. It came down in the end to them having a Fair Play advantage over Senegal. Japan took advantage of an early red card for Colombia to beat the South Americans 2-1 in their opening group stage match. They twice then came from behind to take a 2-2 draw against Senegal before losing their final match against Poland. We were going to say that you can’t fault the commitment of the Blue Samurai but in the final ten minutes of their match against Poland, trailing 1-0 Japan just stopped playing. They put all of their hopes in Senegal not scoring against Colombia in the other game instead of risking conceding a goal themselves that would have knocked them out. They got what they wanted in the end but didn’t win any friends for just basically killing ten minutes. Japan have scored at least two goals in three of their last four games but aren’t likely to get close to threatening Belgium. They did win the last meeting with the Red Devils though.

Belgium v Japan Head to Head

Japan are actually 2-1 ahead over Belgium from their previous four meetings. They did meet at the 2001/02 World cup with a 2-2 draw being played out. Belgium got their first win over the Blue Samurai in their most recent meeting which was a 1-0 success back in November last year for a friendly.

Belgium v Japan Betting Odds*

Belgium 2/5
Draw 4/1
Japan 8/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on June 29th, 2018 at 9:21 p.m.)