Japan vs Saudi Arabia
AFC – World Cup Qualification
Date: Tuesday, 1 February 2022
Kick-off at 10:10 UK / 11:10 CET
Venue: Saitama Stadium.
Saudi Arabia is leading Group B unbeaten in all the 7 fixtures at AFC third stage of qualifiers. Japan is just below them at second and both these teams are in the zone for promotion to WC 2022 with only differing 4 points from each other.
The upcoming 8th round of third stage WC qualifiers is set at Saitama Stadium where the Japanese will be hosting the Green Falcons.
Japan vs Saudi Arabia Head-to-head (h2h)
- Past 4 h2hs saw both teams winning twice the fixtures.
- Three of the past 4 h2h meetings saw goals only from the winning sides.
- The reverse fixture held on last October saw Saudi Arabia win by 1-0.
Japan vs Saudi Arabia Prediction
Saudi Arabia is at the 1st position with 19 points from the 7 games played. They won only 6 times while drawing only once and never losing. They have netted 10 times while conceding only thrice in total.
The Green Falcons won the latest match against Oman by 1-0 marking their second win in a row at AFC WC qualifiers. Over the course of their last 15 away matches in the World Cup 2022, Saudi Arabia have been involved in just a couple of contests in which they have both scored and conceded during the same 90 minutes.
On the other hand, Japan is just below them at 2nd position on the table with 15 points. Of the 7 matches played, they won 5 times while drawing on none and losing only twice other occasions. Their total goals to conceding ratio stands at 7:3 showing their excellent defensive nature.
Japan won 4 WC qualifier matches in a row with the latest being against China by 2-0. The recent home form of the hosts has been impressive, with 15 wins in 18 top flight matches. Moreover, at least one of the two goalkeepers has emerged with a clean sheet from each of the most recent 6 Japanese home games.
We predict a win for Japan as they have registered 10 wins from their past 14 home games at this elite level of domestic competition, not to mention keeping 6 clean sheets on the spin. Also the visitors have found difficult going extremely tough on their matches on road.