Colombia have coped without Radamel Falcao very well at this year’s World Cup, and if the striker had been involved, we could be talking about Los Cafeteros in much more complimentary fashion. As it is, they did well to beat Greece (3-0) and Ivory Coast (2-1). Expect Jose Pekerman to tinker with his starting line up. That could allow Japan the opportunity to get the victory they need to give themselves a chance of progressing to the next round.
Japan’s strengths lie in their attacking game. They play a pressing game and have some very quick and skilful forwards who can cause defences problems. Japan have found goals hard to come by at the World Cup but in a tournament warm up clash, they defeated Costa Rica 3-1 – look at what they’ve done so far at the finals. The Japan squad possess plenty of big match experience with much of it based in Europe. They should be well able to handle the pressure of knowing they much record a victory to progress and need a Greece win against Ivory Coast.
The latest odds on Japan beating Colombia are 11/5.
LATEST MATCH ODDS – Japan 
v Colombia World Cup 2014
Japan 11/5
Draw 5/2
Colombia 7/5 with William Hill
FIRST GOALSCORER
Jackson Martinez 6/1
Teofilo Gutierrez 6/1
Adrian Ramos 8/1
James Rodriguez 8/1
Keisuke Honda 8/1
Yuya Osako 9/1
Shinji Okazaki 9/1
CORRECT SCORE
Draw 1-1 6/1
Colombia 1-0 17/2
Colombbia 2-1 9/1
Japan 1-0 10/1
Draw 0-0 10/1 with BET365
Japan 2-1 11/1
Colombia 2-0 12/1
TOTAL GOALS
Under 2.5 4/5
Over 2.5 EVS
BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
Yes 5/6
No 11/10
WINNING MARGIN
Japan to win by 1 goal 17/4
VERDICT: It’ll be tough for Japan, but with Colombia expected to take their foot off the gas, that opens up a little window of opportunity for them to sneak a win to keep themselves in the competition. Japan have nothing to lose at this stage and will be geared to make a massive assault on the Colombian goal. It’ll be a tight game but Japan can edge it by one goal.
