football | Monday, December 5, 2022 6:22 AM (Revised at: Monday, December 5, 2022 1:31 PM)

Japan vs Croatia Bet Builder Tips: 2.20 Builder for Round of 16 Clash

Tom Winch

Japan vs Croatia Bet Builder Tips: Monday, December 5th

The World Cup knockout stages are well underway, Japan and Croatia meet on Monday afternoon with a place in the quarter final at stake. Here at bettingexpert News we have constructed a bet builder for this clash.

In this article:

Japan vs Croatia Preview
Japan vs Croatia Stats & Facts
Japan vs Croatia Bet Builder

Japan vs Croatia Preview

World Cup Round of 16, Monday, December 5th, 15:00 (UK)

The winners of Group E, Japan, navigated themselves into first place in Group E after beating both Spain and Germany which came as one of many shocks so far in the 2022 edition of the World Cup.

Croatia, who went unbeaten in Group F saw two goalless games alongside a 4-1 win over Canada as they claimed the runners-up spot behind a Moroccan side that proved to be a tough outfit.

As we take a look into the markets for this game in Al Wakrah, the European side are around the even money mark to claim victory inside 90 minutes with Japan priced at 4.00. The goal line on the Asian Handicap is set at 2.25 with the unders coming in as a more favourable outcome.

Despite topping the group, Japan had very little possession in the matches against the big two European sides. Just 26% against Germany and 17.7% coming in their 2-1 victory against Luis Enrique’s side who also qualified for the next round. They’ll be content on not having the ball as much as Croatia here but will fancy themselves to cause plenty of danger on the counter-attack.

Zlatko Dalic’s side created very little against Morocco and Belgium, just 0.52xG and 0.70xG in those games respectively and can count themselves lucky that Belgium and Romelu Lukaku in particular, missed huge chances on Thursday as they created a massive 3.07xG, they’ll have to sharpen up if they want to navigate past a fairly clinical Japanese side.

Japan vs Croatia Stats & Facts

Two of six players who have represented two different nations at a World Cup played for Croatia in 1998.
These two nations met in the 2006 World Cup, the game ended 0-0 and saw them both exit in the group stage.
When Japan beat Spain they had just 17.7% of the ball, it was the lowest figure ever recorded for a winning side in the history of the competition.
In 2018, Japan became the first ever Asian nation to beat a South American side at a World Cup, they beat Colombia 2-1 in the group stage.

Japan vs Croatia Bet Builder

With the Japanese having very little possession in two of their three group games, backing the Croatian central defenders to rack up the passes seems a sensible angle to consider. Dejan Lovren has averaged 62.7 passes per game whilst his partner has a few more with 76.

Rodri and Pau Torres, who played centre back against Japan just a few days ago hit 215 and 189 passes respectively within 90 minutes. The Manchester City man broke the record for completed passes in the defeat.

When Japan met Germany both Antonio Rudiger and Nico Schlotterbeck made plenty of passes, combined they made 229 with the Dortmund man making just a single more than his counterpart.

Croatia may not have as much of the ball as those two nations but it’s clear to see that sides who have some quality about them do rack up plenty of passes in defence. The averages for Lovren and Gvardiol certainly provide some positivity here, they could easily hit some high numbers against this Japan side.

I’m also combining those selections with under 3.5 match goals, with this being a knockout match things will be very tense with neither side wanting to give anything away. All three of Japan’s matches so far have seen less than four goals with two of three coming in for Croatia.

The odds-against selection looks a nice price considering the stats and averages are well in our favour.