Costa Rica v Japan Betting Preview
Two sides who will be heading to Brazil 2014, and two sides who won’t be attracting a lot of attention in the betting. Still, a good chance to get a win under the belt for both, and boost confidence ahead of the big step up to competitive action at the World Cup.
Costa Rica v Japan Betting Odds at online bookmaker Paddy Power
Japan Evens, Draw 9/4, Costa Rica 3/1
Online bookmaker Promotion
Get a free bet for Brazil v Croatia at online betting site Paddy Power. Place a £10 bet on the World Cup outright winner market and get a free £5 bet to use on the first game of the tournament! Wonderful way to kick off your Brazil 2014 betting, you can also get free bets by placing a £20 bet on the top goalscorer market, and receiving a free £5 bet every time that players scores during the tournament!
Costa Rica v Japan Betting Tips:
England will be facing off against Costa Rica in their final Group D match of the World Cup and frankly, the fact that the CONCACAF representatives are trading as long underdogs here against Japan, pretty much confirms that they are going to be the rank outsiders. Costa Rica qualified for the World Cup in finishing second in their group behind the USA. They haven’t been in great form really, having suffered a 4-0 loss against Chile and a 1-0 defeat against South Korea back in January of 2014. Their most recent game did see them take a 2-1 win over Paraguay, the side who had finished bottom of the CONMEBOL qualification zone.
Costa Rica only managed 13 goals in their 10 World Cup qualification matches, so not a lot of firepower there. They have lost four of their last six matches played, and losses against Honduras and Australia in there doesn’t exactly scream for punters to go and back them here. They failed to score in each of those four defeats as well. It looks as if this game is likely to go under 2.5 goals. Costa Rica are long 5/1 shots to qualify from Group D at the World Cup, a group with England, Uruguay and Italy.
Japan are running as favourites here and are going to be worth backing. They were the first side to qualify for the World Cup, all the way back in June of last year, so they have had a lot preparation time. They topped their group ahead of Australia and averaged a couple of goals per game through the AFC qualification. They have posted some decent results, currently running on a four match unbeaten streak. During that sequence, they took a 2-2 draw in Holland, a 3-2 win in Belgium and posted wins over New Zealand and Cyprus, so they are trending a bit here. The two sides have played each other twice before, with Japan winning the first match in 1995 and then taking a 1-1 draw in 2002. Japan are trading at 5/4 to qualify from Group C of the World Cup, a group which houses Colombia, Ivory Coast and Greece too.
Prediction
This looks to be a winnable match for the Blue Samurai and should they run out decent winners here, and at even money Japan are frankly just worth jumping all over here.
Find the latest results, League Table, Top Scorer and more on our football statistics on online-betting.me.uk (just choose your country & your preferred topic)
Form (all competitions)
Costa Rica WDLWLW, Japan LLDWWW
