Japan vs Vietnam Prediction & Betting Tips - Asian Cup

Prediction published on 12/01/2024, 06:30  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 13/01/2024 at 22:30 in Football Predictions

After stumbling at the final hurdle in 2019, Japan will be looking to go all the way and win the Asian Cup in 2024. They start this edition with a Group D game against Vietnam, whose best performance in this competition was more than six decades back. Japan lost to eventual winners Qatar in 2019 and come into this competition as the clear favorites. Coming into the competition, the highest ranked Asian nation, Japan are seeking a record extending fifth crown. They warmed up for this competition with straight wins, against Thailand and Jordan, scoring a total of 11 goals in the process. In each of their last four matches, Japan have scored at least five goals and come here on a very confident footing. A perfect balance in defence and attack has seen Japan conceded just once in five matches, while scoring 23 goals. Eight wins in 10 Asian Cup games is also good enough to build their optimism coming to this competition.

Vietnam aren’t coming into this game on a very strong footing. Chances of improving on their best performance in this competition (reaching semis) remain slim. Their only tune-up game, against Kyrgyz Republic, ended in a 2-1 defeat. As a result, Vietnam have managed just one win in their last six matches. They have failed to score in four of those six games while conceding more than once in four as well. In this duration, they have kept just one clean sheet, and facing Japan comes as a very tough task. It hasn’t been rosy for Vietnam against Japan either. This will be the sixth meeting between the two sides and Vietnam have never won. The last time the two faced off was early in 2022, drawing 1-1 in a World Cup qualifier. That was the only time Vietnam avoided defeat against Japan. In the three meetings before that, they had failed to score.