Japan vs Colombia 6/19/18 - World Cup Picks & Predictions

Colombia have been placed in what is called the Group of Death in the World Cup, along with Poland, Senegal and Japan. This is by far the most unstable group in the competition, with all four teams having solid chances to qualify. Colombia and Poland might be the biggest favorites to do so, but Senegal and Japan will try to stop that from happening.

Colombia almost messed up big time in the World Cup qualifiers, but they eventually finished at the 4th spot of the CONMEBOL Group (7-5-6). They failed to win each of their last four matches in the qualifiers, and barely finished ahead of Peru and Chile. In any case, Colombia will now look to qualify from a very sneaky group. They have Falcao up front, James Rodriguez (who was the leading scorer in the previous World Cup) and Cuadrado in the midfield. These three are almost world-class players, and they are expected to carry the load in the tournament. Japan had a much easier job in the Asian qualifiers, as they easily finished at the top of their respective group (6-2-2). They played some really solid defense throughout the whole round, with all five of their away matches finishing with Under 2.5 Goals. Their biggest star is Dortmund’s midfielder Shinji Kagawa, while Leicester’s forward Shinji Okazaki will be leading the charge. Japan do have a lot of players with experience from big European competitions, and the main characteristics of this squad are pace and strength.