Zambia vs Japan Prediction: Japan won’t find it easy

The second game from Group C is between Zambia and Japan. Spain and Costa Rica faced each other yesterday and the Spain team won the game 3-0, making them group leaders currently. A win here would be a perfect option for both sides in order to boost their chances of entering the knockout stages. Zambia and Japan have not faced each other before as they will be facing each other for the first time. The Zambia team will hope they can start strong after recording a 3-2 win over Germany in their last friendly game and the Japan team are considered favorites for obvious reasons. They also won their last friendly game against Panama by a 5-0 scoreline.

The Zambian team have had a long time to prepare for this tournament and there will be a lot of expectation on the team in this tournament. They have played 10 friendly games since October 2022. In their last 5 games they had 2 wins, 2 defeats and 2 draws. They won games against Tanzania (1-0) and Germany (3-2), while they lost against South Korea (5-2, 5-0) and Ireland (3-2) and they played a 3-3 draw against Switzerland.

Their last competitive competition was at the COSAFA Women’s Cup where they won 4 games in a row against Namibia (2-0), Lesotho (7-0), Eswatini (2-0) and Tanzania (2-1) before playing a 0-0 draw with South Africa and then winning 1-0 at extra time.

Team streak: without a clean sheet (3), more than 2.5 goals (6/7), less than 4.5 cards (10/10).

Starting XI (4-3-3)

Catherine Musonda (GK), Margaret Belemu (LB), Agness Musase (CB), Lushomo Mweemba (CB), Martha Tembo (RB), Ochumba Lubandji (LM), Susan Banda (CM), Evarine Katongo (RM), Avell Chitundu (LWF), Barbra Banda (CF), Rachael Kundananji (RMF).

Japan will be coming into this game as favorites according to the bookmakers but they will need extra efforts to defeat the Zambian team here. The Japanese team are coming off a 5-0 win over Panama in their last friendly game on the 14th. They had 3 friendly games and they won both games against Portugal and Panama, but lost by a single goal to Denmark.

Prior to the Friendly games, they participated in the SheBelieve Cup and they had only 3 points from 3 matches against USA, Brazil and Canada. They lost games against the USA and Brazil by 1-0 and then defeated Canada by 3-0.

In the 2019 Women’s world cup, Japan ended second with 4 points in group D consisting of England, Argentina and Scotland. Unfortunately they lost 2-1 in the Knockout games against Netherlands.

Team streak: First to concede (6/8), less than 4.5 cards (10/10), less than 10.5 corners (5/6).

Starting XI (3-4-3)

Ayaka Yamashita (GK), Moeka Minami (DEF), Saki Kumagai (DEF), Rion Ishikawa (DEF), Jun Endo (LMF), Fuka Nagano (CM), Yui Hasegawa (CM), Risa Shimizu (RMF), Hinata Miyazwa (LWF), Mina Tanaka (CF), Aoba Fujino (RWF).

The Bookmakers favor a win for Japan at 1.29 odds, while a win for Zambia is priced at 8.50 Odds and then a draw is 6.50 Odds. The statistics show the Japan team is superior on the world cup stage. They managed to qualify for the Knockout stages in the 2019 edition of the tournament against all odds. And I expect them to do that in this tournament. However, the Zambian team are fully aware of the threat they are up against and I see them keeping things tight in this game. So expect few goal scoring opportunities for both teams.

Bet on

• Goal 1 up to 15 Minutes No at 1.624 Odds
• Away Win or Draw and Under 3.5 Goals at 2.17 Odds
• Both Teams to Score at 1.66 Odds