Japan is emerging as a Dark horse in the tournament after they beat 4 times world cup champions Germany and 2010 world cup champions Spain in group-stage matches. Confidence in the Japan team may be at 7th heaven and their fans will also be happy with the performance of the team. Now they will face Luka Modric’s Croatia who was in the finals against France in the 2018 world cup Russia and runner-up of the 2018 world cup.
Croatia though is a good team but apart from confidence, they should come up with a good strategy and gameplay against the Asian team Japan as they have just beaten Spain. Croatia’s performance in this world cup is great but they have 2 draws against Belgium and Morocco. They have only 1 win and that is against Canada which is not one of the best teams in the world cup. But Japan has beaten 2 teams that are said to be favorites to win this world cup and they kicked Germany off the world cup. As Japan topped group E and Croatia is in the second spot of Group F both will fight in the round of 16.
- Japan vs Croatia Round of 16 Match date and time
- Japan Squad and Line-up for the round of 16
- Japan Team Formation against Croatia Round of 16 Match
- Croatia Squad and Line-up for the round of 16
- Croatia Team Formation against Japan Round of 16 Match
- Japan vs Croatia head-to-head
- Japan vs Croatia Round of 16 Match Prediction
Japan vs Croatia Round of 16 Match date and time
Japan as a topper of Group E will face Croatia of Group F on 5 December 2022 Qatar Monday at Al Janoub Stadium at 18:00 local Qatar time.
| Qatar | 18:00 |
| USA & Canada | 10:00 ET |
| UK | 15:00 ET |
| Australia | 02:00 AEDT |
| India | 20:30 IST |
Japan Squad and Line-up for the round of 16
Japan will line up against Croatia in a 3-4-3 formation in the round-of-16 knockout match against Croatia. Croatia is an attacking team they have great players like Luka Modric, Brozovic, and Perisic who can change the complete game at any point. So Japan will be focusing on and using the same strategy that they used against Spain. They did not acquire maximum possession but when they won the ball they did not miss the opportunity.
Japan should place 4 players in defense and their mid-fielder and forwards should take a heavy press on Croatia. Unless and until Japan won’t press heavily they won’t be able to get possession of the ball against Croatia. Japan’s mid-fielder should mark Luka Modric and other Croatian strikers and Japan should not give any opportunity or not a second to these players if they do so these are not inexperienced players like Gavi and Pedri they will not miss a score.
Japan’s defense should be double charged and we should see man-marking on Croatian players when they have ball possession. Japan should avoid long passes in the game because they won’t be able to beat Croatian players in winning the ball.
Japan’s Predicted Line-up
Goalkeeper: Shuichi Gonda
Defenders: Maya Yoshida, Shogo Taniguchi, Ko Itakura
Midfielders: Hidemasa Morita, Ao Tanaka, Junya Ito, Y Nagatomo
Forwards: Daizen Maeda, Daichi Kamada, Takefusa Kubo
Japan Team Formation against Croatia Round of 16 Match
Croatia Squad and Line-up for the round of 16
Croatia will play in a 4-3-3 formation against Japan in the round of 16 match.
The Croatian team is an experienced team, they are the runner-ups of the FIFA world cup 2018 Russia. They crossed many hurdles to reach in Finals of the world cup and many of the players are still in the Croatian Squad. They lost to France in the final match but they scored 2 goals against them and have the capability to score goals against any big team in FIFA. They are undefeated in this world cup. They have conceded only 1 goal in the last 3 matches in the world cup.
Croatia has big qualities to dive deep in the world cup as they showed their ability in their last world cup. Croatia should study how Japan team works and should counter them on their weakest point. Japan’s team’s weakest point is that they are not able to keep possession of the ball as we have seen them against Spain and Germany but they are good at defense. Croatia should play through their wings and should create opportunities in the attacking third through long cross passes from the left and right wings to their strikers.
Croatian defense should be alert as Japan’s players come with a great pace and movements while attacking. Croatian players should catch them in the OFF sides but very carefully.
Croatia’s Predicted Line-up
Goalkeepers: Dominik Livakovic
Defenders: Dejan Lovren, Josip Juranovic, Josko Gvardiol, Borna Sosa
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic
Forwards: Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Marko Livaja
Croatia Team Formation against Japan Round of 16 Match
Japan vs Croatia head-to-head
Croatia has played 3 matches against Japan and the results are interesting 1 match resulted in a draw and 1 won by Croatia and 1 by Japan.
| Date | Match | Result | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08 Jun 1997 | Japan v Croatia | L | 4-3 | Kirin Japan Cup |
| 20 Jun 1998 | Japan v Croatia | W | 0-1 | FIFA World Cup |
| 18 Jun 2006 | Japan v Croatia | D | 0-0 | FIFA World Cup |
An interesting fact is that Croatia has never lost to Japan in the World cup.
Japan vs Croatia Round of 16 Match Prediction
Croatia is an experienced team and they know how to play knockouts on big stages like the world cups. Though Japan has beaten Germany and Spain in this world cup, I did not see a game that needs to dive deep into the tournaments like the World Cup. Japan has moved forward just because of its pace and defensive tactics and that’s not just to qualify further we need to see more from their side.
Luka Modric’s Croatia will win the match against Japan and the score might be Japan 1-2 Croatia.
Other Round of 16 Matches
Match 1: England vs Senegal Round of 16
Match 2: Netherlands vs USA Round of 16
Match 3: France vs Poland Round of 16
Match 4: Argentina vs Australia Round of 16
Match 5: Japan vs Croatia Round of 16
Match 6: Morocco vs Spain Round of 16
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