Croatia reached the final of the 2018 World Cup and there’s nothing to suggest they can’t go deep in Qatar. They began their campaign with a goalless draw against Morocco before a convincing 4-1 victory against Canada. They were then able to survive some Romelu Lukaku missed chances to go through as runners-up to the Moroccans in Group F.
They will need to find more of a cutting edge when clashing with a Japan side who look like difficult opponents. The Blue Samurai have been behind in all three of their World Cup games played thus far, although they were able to come from behind against Germany and then Spain.
We think that a good bet could be to back the game to be level at half-time, with Croatia not wanting to fall behind against a team who showed their defensive strength to see out the final group game against the Spanish, with Japan also looking to get plenty of players behind the ball and look to exploit ageing legs on the break.
The Under 2.5 Goals bet could be the way forward, with this being a huge game for Japanese football as the team look to make history. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if we saw a goalless draw between the sides and, if you’re looking to go down this route, then back No Goalscorer which covers the event of an own goal being bagged.