Japan vs Spain - 2022 World Cup Betting Guide

Japan Team Info – A Defensively Solid Squad

For many younger football fans, Japan is a team that has always featured in the World Cup. They have qualified for every single World Cup since 1998, and have always either been eliminated in the group stage or the round of 16. Japan have had many great players in the 2000s through to 2010s, such as Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda, Shinji Okazaki, Makoto Hasebe and Yasuhito Endo, who played in multiple World Cups. These players retired in the mid to late 2010s, and Japan has found replacements for them. The current Japanese team had a bit of a struggle in their opening 3 games of the qualifiers, when they lost to both Saudi Arabia and Oman. They then went on to win 6 games in a row, before finally finishing with a draw. Japan finished second to Saudi Arabia, by a single point. They scored 12 goals in their 10 games and conceded only 4.

Japan relied on striker Yuya Osako to score in their qualifying games, but goals also came from midfielders Hidemasa Morita, Junya Ito, Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino, and Ao Tanaka. They also have midfielders such as Kento Hashimoto and Wataru Endo, who play in more defensive roles. In defence, they have their captain, Maya Yoshida, as well as Yuto Nagatomo, who are 34 and 36 years old. They also have younger options such as Miki Yamane, and Takehiro Tomiyasu. The Japanese goalkeeper, Eiji Kawashima, is 39 years old, and the backup keeper, Shuichi Gonda, is 33 years old.

Spain Team Info – A Team Looking to Lift the Trophy

Spain had a successful campaign in the UEFA World Cup qualifiers. They topped Group B, and during the qualifiers, they showed a lot of improvements and employed many new players in their games. Spain won the World Cup in 2010, but in the following competitions, they crashed out in the group stage and the round of 16. This was mostly due to many players retiring or ageing, to which Spain did not have any answer. They made a great run in the 2020 European Championships, reaching the semi finals where they lost to Italy in a penalty shootout.

Their manager, Luis Enrique, decided to drop a lot of longtime players during the qualification and replace them with either younger players or lesser known Spanish players. David De Gea, for example, was dropped in favour of the younger goalkeeper Unai Simon. In defence, they used Cesar Azpilicueta, Pau Torres, Eric Garcia, Jose Gaya and Marcos Llorente ahead of Jordi Alba, Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, and more. Rodri, Gavi, Pedri, Dani Olmo, Mikel Merino, and Pablo Fornais were all used in the midfield. This does not mean that Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Thiago, and Koke will not appear in the World Cup, but these games showed the true squad depth of Spain. Enrique boosted his strikeforce, or Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio, with players such as Ansu Fati, Mikel Oyarzabal, Pablo Sarabia, and Ferran Torres.

Japan vs Spain Head-to-head

Japan and Spain have only ever faced each other once before, which was a friendly game in 2001. Spain won the match 1-0.

Japan vs Spain Betting Preview

This will be a highly thrilling match to watch, as both teams race to the top of the table. You can raise the stakes by trying out some of the fantastic bets we offer on it. Whether you want to back Spain or Japan, you will find many different betting options that can come with shorter or much longer odds, and there are plenty of bets that will put your footballing knowledge to the test.

Asian Handicaps

Handicaps are bets where you can pick a team to win by a certain margin or more. You can select a negative number which will be added to the score of your chosen team, and they will need to win the match with the adjusted scoreline. You can also pick a positive handicap, which will be added to the final score of your team, which will make betting on them safer but also reduce their odds.

If you were to pick the favourites, Spain, to beat Japan by a handicap of -2.5 then you will need them to finish the match at least 3 goals clear of Japan. If you apply a handicap of -2 then Spain will also need to win by 3 or more goals, but if they only manage to win by 2, then the result will be a draw and your money will be returned.

If you apply a handicap of -2.25 then Spain will need to win the game by 3 or more goals, but if they win by 2 then half your money will be returned. This is because your bet will be split in two with half your money on a handicap of -2.5 and the other half will be on a handicap of -2.

Over/Under Total Goals

With total goals bets you can predict how many goals will be scored between both teams in a game. The bet uses the over/under format whereby you will need to pick a betting line and then bet on whether the match will finish with more or less goals than the line. For example, if you think that this game will be packed with goals then you can bet on Spain and Japan to score over 4.5 goals. If you think that both teams will struggle to find the net then you can bet on Spain and Japan to score under 1.5 goals.

Winning Margin

Winning margin is a bet on a team to win by an exact margin. For example, you can bet on Spain to beat Japan with a margin of 3, and then if the game ends 3-0, 4-1, 5-2, and so on, then you will have won your bet.

And Loads More

There are many more betting opportunities on the group match between Japan and Spain. For example, you can bet on Spain to win the first half, Japan to score the first goal, Spain to score over 2.5 goals in the first half, Spain to keep a clean sheet, either team to score in the first 5 minutes, both teams to score, Spain to score in both halves, Japan to win either half, and a lot of similar types of bets.

You can also explore our match combos, where we combine some of these game props with matchbets, double chance, total goals, and more. You can find selections such as Spain to score the first goal and win the game, both teams to score and Japan to win, Spain to win the first half and the game to end with over 3.5 goals, and all the other combinations you may need.

One thing you should always consider is how much you spend on betting. It is important to make a budget and to not bet with more money than you can afford to lose. If you need more information on how to gamble responsibly then you can go to gambleaware.co.uk where there is a lot of helpful advice.