Japan – Paraguay (International Friendlies)
Japan and Paraguay are up against each other this Tuesday at Tivoli Stadion, in a friendly match. The Japanese have been unfortunate in the preparation matches played so far, and this is Akira Nishino’s last chance to settle his main squad, and main strategies, before the star of the 2018 World Cup. Paraguay, on their turn, arrive here with only one friendly match played so far this year, and were defeat by the USA national team.
Japan arrive here with four friendly matches played so far this year, but are winless in all of them, starting with a 1-1 draw against Mali and a 1-2 defeat against Ukraine, both in March and, more recently, a 0-2 defeat against Ghana and 1-0 against Switzerland. Since the 1998 World Cup in France, the Japanese have been a constant presence in the competition, but have only went beyond the group stages once, back in 2010.
This year, in Russia, the Blue Samurai will not have an easy campaign during the group stages, as they are part of Group H along with Poland, Colombia and Senegal, and this match will be the last chance for Akira Nishino to define his best lineup and settle the last strategies before the start of the competition. It is important to note that Japan has some good players, whose names are well known across Europe, such as defenders Yoshida (Southampton), Gotoku Sakai (Hamburg) and Hiroki Sakai (Marseille), midfielders like Hasebe (Frankfurt) Inui (Betis) and Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund), and forwards like Okazaki (Leicester City) and Muto (Mainz).
Probable Lineup: Kawashima – Yoshida, Hasebe and Sakai – Oshima, Yamaguchi, Sakai and Nagatomo – Honda and Kagawa – Muto.
Paraguay, on their turn, arrive here with only one friendly match played so far this year, which as ended in a defeat by 1-0, in March against USA. La Albirroja was a surprise in the 2010 World Cup, where they reached the quarter finals, but failed to participate in the 2014 World Cup, in Brazil, and are out of this year’s edition as well, arriving here with a 20 men squad where most of them have less than 15 internationalizations. With such an unexperienced squad, it is clear the coach Gustavo Morínigo is making new experiments, giving the younger players a chance to prove their potential.
Although most of these players play for Paraguayan teams, there are some well know names in Europe, such as defenders Gustavo Gómez (AC Milan) and Júnior Alonso (Lille) and striker Derlis González (Dynamo Kyiv), Federico Santander (FC Copenhagen) and Antonio Sanabria (Real Betis). In addition to these names, there are also two players who play in Brazil, for Corinthians, that stand ou, such as defender Balbuena, and forward Ángel Romero.
Probable Lineup: Aguilar – Escobar, Balbuena, Gómez and Alonso – Ortiz e Motta – González, Romero and Gamarra – Santander.
Japan has won 2 of the previous 5 direct clashes against Paraguay, in the last 18 years, tying the remaining 3 ending.
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Japan
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1-0 |
 Paraguay |
International Friendlies 2010
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Paraguay
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0-0(5-3 g.p.) |
 Japan |
2010 World Cup
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Japan
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0-0 |
Paraguay |
International Friendlies 2008
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Japan
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0-0 |
Paraguay |
International Friendlies 2003
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Japan
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2-0 |
Paraguay |
Kirin Cup 2000/01
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Japan arrive here without a single victory in any of the preparation games played so far, and this is the last chance for the Blue Samurai to get confidence before the start of the 2018 World Cup. With Paraguay living a different reality, since they will not play in the World Cup, and arrive here with a more inexperienced players, Japan might to able to, at least, avoid defeat here.
