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Match Preview: Japan vs Poland, Group H, June 28

Poland and Japan close out the group H games on Thursday, June 28th in Volgograd, Russia with a 10am Eastern match. Poland was shocked in its first two games of the World Cup, losing a tight match with Senegal before getting blown out by Colombia in their second game. Japan, on the other hand, beat all odds by topping Colombia in their first game before tying Senegal 2-2 in their second game. Our World Cup Betting odds still show Poland as the favorite in this match, but not nearly by as much as a margin as they were when the tournament started. With Japan still hanging on to the chance of a pass in the next round should Senegal tie or lose to Colombia, they are surely going to come into this game with winning on their mind. These two teams have played each other six times over the course of the last 37 years, with Poland holding the better record with 4 wins and 2 losses. The last match was in 2002, when Japan won 2-0 in a friendly match.

Japan

For a team that was expected to finish last, Japan has been one of the pleasant surprises of this tournament so far. A gutsy win over Columbia in their first game turned a lot of heads, but they caught the world's attention when in their second game vs Senegal Keisuke Honda responded minutes after a late Senegal goal by Moussa Wague that looked like it was going to be the game winner. Japan walked out of that match with a tie and a chance to advance in the World Cup. After all the turmoil the Japanese team has undergone in the last year, dumping ex-manager Vahid Halilhodzic only two months before the start of the World Cup and replacing him with Akira Nishino, plus the status of Honda's place on the national team in doubt right up to the start of the tournament, the fact that this team has got themselves in a position to qualify is truly remarkable.

Poland

If Japan's story is remarkably good, then Poland's has been remarkably bad. This was not the World Cup Journey that Poland expected, after having made it to the quarter finals of the Euro 2016 tournament and beating Germany in the process before storming through World Cup qualifying with an 8-1-1 record behind Robert Lewandowski's 16 goals. Poland disappointed in their first game against Senegal with a 2-1 loss. Although they outshot the Senegalese 11-8 in the match, they were not able to get a goal until the 86th minute. Then, with everything on the line against Colombia, they came out flat and conceded 3 goals, committing 15 fouls and gathering 3 yellow cards in the process. Now forced to play a consolidation game against a revved-up Japan squad that nobody expected to be advancing, it is hard to see where Poland have the gumption to make a last stab at a victory at the World Cup.

Match Overview

As mentioned, the odds still favor Poland for this game, and for good reason. Not only to they have a bona fide star in Lewandowski, Poland also has a supporting cast of capable players who ran through qualifying with relative ease. The team is set up to get the most out of Lewandowski, who scored the most goals in UEFA qualifying, including three hat tricks. Japan meanwhile has so far depended on veteran leadership, as Eiji Kawashima, Keisuke Honda, Yuto Nagatomo, Shinji Okazaki and captain Makoto Hasebe all played in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and have again been at the forefront for their country in 2018. If they can help Japan keep composure against a more talented Poland, then Japan has a chance at writing one of the biggest surprises of the group stage.

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Group Phase