Japan vs. Costa Rica 11/27/22 World Cup Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Japan and Costa Rica face off on Sunday in a World Cup Group E soccer showdown at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. 

Japan currently sits in second place in the group, having picked up three points. On Wednesday, Japan faced off against Germany, and they had one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far. In the first half, Germany scored, and it looked like it might be a long game for Japan. In the second half, Japan scored two goals after the 75th minute. Ritsu Doan scored in the 75th minute and Takuma Asano scored in the 83rd minute. Hiroki Sakai suffered an injury in the last game, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to go in this game. Takehiro Tomiyasu will replace him if he’s healthy, but there are questions if he is healthy. 

On the other side of this matchup is Costa Rica, who sits in 4th place in the group, having picked up zero points. Costa Rica opened up their World Cup against Spain, and they were defeated 7-0. They gave up the first goal in the 11th minute, and the defense didn’t get better as the game went on. Costa Rica had 18 percent of the possession and zero shots on goal. Costa Rica were awful in the first game, but they aren’t expected to make many changes in this game. Kendall Waston could move into the starting lineup to try to improve the back line. 

This Costa Rica defense is awful, and they are going to struggle again in this game. They probably won’t give up seven goals again, but Japan will score two or three off them. Japan is going to push numbers forward, and Costa Rica is going to collapse because of the pressure. Back Japan -1.5 to cash