Côte d’Ivoire v Japan Football Match – 15.06.2014 – Fifa 2014 World Cup Match Preview, Prediction, Tips and Squad Info
Côte d’Ivoire v Japan Football Match will be played on 15.06.2014 at Itaipava Arena Pernambuco (Recife, Pernambuco) for the Fifa 2014 World Cup Group Stage Match.
The long awaited Fifa 2014 World Cup is just around the corner, many football fans across the world, the players, the staff and literally everyone are looking forward for this competition, because it is held only every 4 years and it is an amazing competition to watch.
Côte d’Ivoire National team will start their first group stage match, they are in Group C and their first match will be against Japan. Côte d’Ivoire have been quite patchy.
Here are their stats:
| Tanzania | 2 – 4 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| Nigeria | 4 – 1 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 2 – 0 | Nigeria |
| Mexico | 4 – 1 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 1 – 1 | Morocco |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 3 – 1 | Senegal |
| Senegal | 1 – 1 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| Belgium | 2 – 2 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2 – 1 | Côte d’Ivoire |
| El Salvador | 1 – 2 | Côte d’Ivoire |
As you can clearly see, they have many draws lately. They drew against Morocco in the WQA match then beat Senegal 3-1 at home and drew with them a month later, it was enough for them to qualify for the World Cup. They then played 3 friendly matches, one against Belgium which resulted in a 2-2 draw, one against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which resulted in a 2-1 loss away from home but they managed to beat El Salvador 1-2 playing away. Côte d’Ivoire are now full of confidence as they head for their first World Cup match. Côte d’Ivoire will be looking to gain the 3 points they need to give pressure on the teams in their group.
Côte d’Ivoire key players to look watch out for are: Didier Drogba (Captain), who will be their main striker. This will most likely be his last World Cup match before he retires, so he will be looking to push the team forward to at least get to the semis. Another key player to watch out for is Wilfried Bony, who is only 25 and looking to follow Drogba’s footsteps. Yaya Touré is also another important player for the team, he will control the midfield area and have been amazing for Manchester City last season.
Côte d’Ivoire National team are currently ranked in 23rd position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was just updated in June.
Japan National team have been excellent, let me just show you some of their stats and you will see why:
| Japan | 3 – 1 | Ghana |
| Serbia | 2 – 0 | Japan |
| Belarus | 1 – 0 | Japan |
| Netherlands | 2 – 2 | Japan |
| Belgium | 2 – 3 | Japan |
| Japan | 4 – 2 | New Zealand |
| Japan | 1 – 0 | Cyprus |
| Costa Rica | 1 – 3 | Japan |
| Japan | 4 – 3 | Zambia |
As you can see, Japan are currently undefeated in 6 matches, with 5 wins in a row. They drew with Netherlands, playing away which was good for them, then they managed to beat Belgium away with a 2-3 scoreline, they also beat New Zealand 4-2, Cyprus 1-0, Costa Rica 1-3 and Zambia 4-3. This match will be interesting to watch as both teams are strong.
Japan key players to look forward to are: Shinji Okazaki, who have the most goals scored in the national team currently. The next key player I would say is Shinji Kagawa, Yasuhito Endō and Keisuke Honda.
Japan National team are currently ranked in 46th position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was just updated in June. This is a rather low ranking for them.
We predict this match will be tough, but we think Japan have a chance to win this match, as they have a good away record and it will be interesting to see if they can cope with the weather in Brazil.
The match will begin on June 15, 2014 02:00 am Greenwich Mean Time.
Match Prediction: Japan Win. Under 2.5 Goals.