Ukraine vs Japan
International – Friendly
Date: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Kick-Off at 13:20 UK
Venue: Stade Maurice Dufrasne (Liege)
Ukraine have been in an unpredictable spell of form through most part of their World Cup campaign and they’ve failed to earn their ticket to the final tournament in group I with a 0-2 home loss to Croatia on the final day. They’ve picked up their team spirits with a 2-1 friendly win over Slovakia in November, though, and now look to build on such a performance in March clashes against Saudi Arabia and Japan.
Japan have been just as unpredictable and only narrowly earned their pass to Russia, as Vahid Halilhodzic and his men came under a lot of criticism. They have fallen short of East Asian Championship title in December – suffering a 1-4 loss to Korea – and now look for a return to the winning ways of their own.
This will be the second outing in Liege for the Samurai Blue in just days and we’ll surely see an outfit very motivated to capitalize on the rivals’ woes and seemingly have a lot more to play for at this point. We’ve seen more defensive inconsistencies recently, though, and this could be more worrying as Ukraine look ready to take advantage – led by in-form Akhisarspor’s Yevhen Seleznyov up front.
Ukraine vs Japan: Head-to-head
This will be the sides’ third head-to-head clash, with two friendly encounters already seen in 2002 and 2005.
We’ve seen two narrow clashes as Japan turned the one in 2002 their way (1-0 in Osaka) but Ukraine returned the favour in 2005 (1-0 Kiev)
We’ve seen both sides scoring and conceding more goals recently, which could promise a more exciting clash on the day.
Ukraine vs Japan: Prediction
We will now back Japan to bag a narrow win in Liege and go for it at 2.50 – which could be overpriced at this point!
They could have to outgun the rivals to do so, though, and we’ll thus also go for Over 2.5 goals FT at 1.95!
Ukraine vs Japan: Bet Tips
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Japan to win @ 2.50
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Over 2.5 goals FT @ 1.95
Odds are correct at the time of compiling this article. T&C apply for offers and free bets. (18+) Please gamble responsibly.
