Japan vs Greece Prediction- Will Japan Be Able To Defeat The Hellenic Team?

Next Thursday, Japan will measure forces with Greece at Estádio das Dunas in Natal on a match of paramount importance for both sides if they still want to nurture their hopes of proceeding to the next stage of the competition.

Japan had everything in their favour, especially during the first-half, to win the match against the Ivory Coast, but an uninspired second-half cost them the three points. The Asian team managed to take advantage from Ivory Coast’s consecutive mistakes and enjoyed some fairly dangerous moments through quick counter-attacks that caused some panic on the Elephants' disoriented defense line.

Alberto Zaccheroni’s side powerful midfield line, supported by the creativity and talent of Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa, was the key to restrain the movements from the Ivory Coast midfield players during the first-half, although everything changed when Didier Drogba came into the game and restored his teammates' inspiration.

For the match against Greece, it is not likely that Alberto Zaccheroni will perform several changes into his team, although he might need to take some time working on his players’ physical condition, since they looked extremely fatigued for a great part of the second-half against Ivory Coast.

As for Greece, it is blatantly obvious that they need to win the match against Japan if they want to keep dreaming about proceeding to the next stage of the tournament. Greece were severely hammered by an highly inspired Colombian side and they were incapable of producing an adequate response to a fairly more intense game approach exhibited by the South American team. Fernando Santos pushed his usual 4-3-3 style, based on quick counter-attacks and on a solid and reckless defensive wall, but his hopes and strategy were frustrated by Pékerman’s side, who seemed to have studied their lesson pretty well regarding the Greek frailties.

Despite the Hellenic side's heavy lost, it is also not likely that the highly conservative Portuguese manager will implement profound changes in his team. Although, there is a strong possibility that Mitroglou and Tziolis make their way into the team, replacing Kone and Gekas, who were not particularly inspired throughout Greece’s first match.

Due to their experience on this type of competitions, Greece might be considered favourites to win next Thursday’s match, although, if Japan manage to replicate the good performance they displayed during the first half of their previous match, they might cause a major upset to the Greek team.

Japan

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - LWWWW

Greece

Stats: W-1 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - LWDDL

Possible Line-ups

Japan (4-2-3-1) - Nishikawa - Ushida - Nagatomo - Konno - Yoshida - Endo - Hasebe - Yamaguchi - Honda - Kagawa - Okazaki

Greece (4-3-3) -  Karnezis - Torosidis - Sokratis - Manolas - Holebas - Tziolis, Kone, Katsouranis - Salpingidis - Samaras - Mitroglou

Prediction: Japan 1 Greece 1