Japan World Cup Betting Preview

Japan odds and free bets for 2010 World Cup

This will be Japan’s fourth appearance at the World Cup finals. Boasting the strongest squad in Asia Japan have won three of the last five AFC Asia Cup finals. The Japanese hope to perform much better than the finals in 2006 when they failed to qualify from the group stage. Their most successful World Cup campaign came at the finals held in Japan and Korea in 2002, it was here that Japan managed to progress form the group stage and were unlucky to lose to Portugal at the Last Sixteen stage. The Japanese are not fancied to be a major threat at South Africa and the shortest odds for a Japanese winning campaign are offered by Ladbrokes at 125/1, William Hill offer the most attractive odds at 250/1.

Japan are placed in Group E along with Cameroon, Denmark and the Netherlands. This is a strong group and if Japan were to qualify they will have to perform above the expectations of all football fans. Odds for a Japanese qualification reflect the near impossible task ahead of them, SkyBet offer the best odds for this at 11/4. Also offered by Sky Bet are odds of 1/4 for the likely event of Japan not qualifying from the group. However Japan managed to qualify from the group in 2002 so the task isn’t beyond them. Another Last Sixteen elimination for Japan is priced at 15/4 by expert.com also offered by this agency is odds of 14/1 for a Japanese elimination at the Quarter Final stage.

Japan qualified for South Africa with relative ease, only losing one match, drawing three and winning four. The Japanese finished he group second to Australia and five points above closest rivals Bahrain.

Although star player Hidetoshi Nakata retired from international football after the last finals in Germany at the age of 29 Japan still hold a host of good players looking to make an impact in South Africa. Former Celtic and current Espanyol playmaker Shunsuke Nakamora is Japan’s most important player, Boylesports prices him at 300/1 to finish the tournament as top goal scorer.  Left footed midfielder Keisuke Honda could also cause teams problems. Finally 31 year old captain Yuji Nakazawa will lead the side from the back. He is Japan’s third highest capped player of all time.

Reccomended bets: As Japan are one of the lowest ranked teams in the tournament, the best bets to make on them are bets on single matches. William Hill prices Japan at 13/5 to beat Cameroon whereas Bet365 offer odds of 23/10 in the event of a draw. SkyBet prices a Japan victory against the Netherlands at 13/2 and Victor Chandler offers odds of 11/4 for a draw in this match. Finally SkyBet offer odds of 3/1 for Japan to beat Denmark and also offer odds of 9/4 for a draw in this tie.

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