Match Details:
Date: 27 November 2022
Time: 03:30 PM IST
Venue: Ahmad bin Ali Stadium
Live Commentary: SportsTiger App
Preview:
Japan and Costa Rica will lock horns in Group E’s first match of the second game day. The Japanese team managed to shock the world after they took down a resilient German side in spectacular fashion. Whereas the ticos suffered a 7-0 hammering in their opening game of the FIFA World Cup against Spain.
Team news:
Japan
Hiroki Sakai picked up an injury against Germany and was forced to miss training on Thursday with the issue.
Costa Rica
Los Ticos has no reported injury concerns after their defeat to Spain.
Analysis:
The Japanese team pulled off a surprising result against Germany, which is considered one of the best teams in the world. Hajime Moriyasu’s men put on a technically sound performance which allowed them to capitalise on key opportunities and score goals. Daichi Kamada has emerged as one of the top players in the tournament while Takefusa Kubo continues his rise as one of the best young players in the world.
Whereas Costa Rica had a forgetful opening game as they lost 7-0 against Spain. The defeat was made worse by the fact that Los Ticos had only 18% possession and zero shots at the goal. Their central defence was porous making life extremely difficult for Keylor Navas. Only Celso Borges put up a somewhat decent performance and was the only positive for Costa Rica.
Probable Starting XIs:
Japan:
Gonda (GK); Tomiyasu, Itakura, Yoshida (C), Nagatomo; Endo, Tanaka; Ito, Kamada, Kubo; Asano
Costa Rica:
Navas (C) (GK); Waston, Calvo, Duarte, Oviedo; Tejeda, Borges; Bennette, Fuller; Campbell, Contreras
Key players:
Head-to-Head :
Grand League team:
Head-to-head team:
Best 14:
Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas, Shuichi Gonda
Defenders: Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kou Itakura, Bryan Oviedo, Carlos Martinez
Midfielders: Celso Borges, Keysher Fuller, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Daichi Kamada
Strikers: Joel Campbell, Anthony Contreras, Takuma Asano
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