Japan U23 vs Paraguay U23 Prediction: A low scoring game anticipated

In the first week of the 2024 season, Japan U23 will play Paraguay U23 at the Stade Matmut-Atlantique on Thursday night. With an impressive 83% victory percentage and an xG of 1.41. With a mere 20% winning percentage and an xG against of 1.26, Paraguay U23 will have a difficult task ahead of them. Commencing their campaigns at Stade de Bordeaux, both countries are vying for the top spot in Group D, which is also occupied by Israel and Mali.

Japan is predicted to advance far in the competition this year because of its strong tournament history and their fourth-place performance in the past Olympic Games held in its home country. Japan has only dropped two of their previous eleven games, and they are currently supported at 19/20 to win their opening match in France.

Meanwhile, Paraguay struggled in their match against France (1-4) last week, and the most recent probability calculations give them a mere 29.4% chance of winning back. There have previously been two meetings between Paraguay and Japan. In the two previous meetings, which took place in 2016 and 2004, Paraguay prevailed. Not many of Japan's more well-known players have been called up for the Olympics, but Benfica goalkeeper Leo Kokubo has made the trip. Joel Chima Fujita, the captain, and Shunsuke Mito of Sparta Rotterdam ought to play significant roles.

Japan, who will be competing in their 11th Olympic Games, including their eighth consecutive year, will be looking to improve on their performance from Tokyo 2020, where they finished fourth after falling to Mexico in the bronze medal match.

Just a few months after Japan failed to place on the podium in Tokyo, Go Oiwa was named head coach. The 52-year-old is now responsible for leading his country to its first football medal since they won bronze in Mexico City. After winning the 2024 AFC Under-23 Asian Cup in May, the Samurai Blue have earned a spot in this year's competition. They won six of their seven games, including a narrow 1-0 triumph against Uzbekistan in the championship match.

Since that victory, Japan has participated in two friendlies to get ready for the Paris Games. On July 12, they defeated the USA 2-0, and five days later, they played host nation France to a respectable 1-1 draw.

Joel Chima Fujita's first-half goal was cancelled out by Alexandre Lacazette's second-half goal, forcing both clubs to share the spoils. But Oiwa has learned a lot from Japan's last warm-up match; he says that playing against one of the pre-tournament favorites "gave us a valuable opportunity to condition our players and review our tactics."

Only the third time ever, and the first since they took home a silver medal in Athens in 2004, will Paraguay compete in the men's football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In the tournament's opening group match, La Albirroja ironically defeated Japan 4-3 to get to the final, where they were narrowly defeated 1-0 by fellow South American, Argentina.

But earlier this year, Paraguay defeated both Brazil and Argentina, the gold medalists from Tokyo 2020, to win the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament and earn a spot in the Paris Games. Argentina had to settle for second place, while Brazil, who lost 1-0 to Paraguay, unexpectedly missed out on qualifying.

After being reappointed as Paraguay's Under-23 manager in October of last year, veteran coach Carlos Jara Saguier, 73, will be looking to repeat the silver medal feat that he helped the team achieve two decades ago.

After losing both of their warm-up games this month and drawing 2-2 with Ukraine last week, Paraguay, who had made it to the knockout stages of their previous two Olympic games (including 1992 in Barcelona), is headed to the Paris Games. They managed to salvage a share of the spoils against France with two goals in the final five minutes of the match.

Although Japan, who will also be hoping to win on Wednesday, presents perhaps their greatest test in Group D on matchday one, Paraguay still can surprise everyone at the Paris Games.

We believe that the spoils will be shared this time around because there isn't much separating these two countries, thus a closely fought struggle could be in store in Bordeaux.